Apple TV+ released a new trailer for its drama “Fancy Dance” starring Lily Gladstone and Isabel Deroy-Olson.
The film follows Jax (Gladstone), who has cared for her niece Rokie (Deroy-Olson) since her sister’s disappearance by scraping by on the Seneca-Cayuga reservation in Oklahoma. Every spare minute goes into finding her missing sister while also helping Roki prepare for an upcoming powwow. When she risks losing custody of Roki, the two hit the road and scour backcountry to track down Roki’s mother in time for the powwow.
“Fancy Dance,” a Confluential Films and Significant Productions/Aum Group production, is produced by Deidre Backs, Erica Tremblay, Heather Rae, Nina Yang Bongiovi and Tommy Oliver. Bird Runningwater, Lily Gladstone, Forest Whitaker and Charlotte Koh serve as executive producers.
Watch the trailer below.
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The film follows Jax (Gladstone), who has cared for her niece Rokie (Deroy-Olson) since her sister’s disappearance by scraping by on the Seneca-Cayuga reservation in Oklahoma. Every spare minute goes into finding her missing sister while also helping Roki prepare for an upcoming powwow. When she risks losing custody of Roki, the two hit the road and scour backcountry to track down Roki’s mother in time for the powwow.
“Fancy Dance,” a Confluential Films and Significant Productions/Aum Group production, is produced by Deidre Backs, Erica Tremblay, Heather Rae, Nina Yang Bongiovi and Tommy Oliver. Bird Runningwater, Lily Gladstone, Forest Whitaker and Charlotte Koh serve as executive producers.
Watch the trailer below.
DeNiro Con Unveils Lineup for Event During Tribeca Festival
DeNiro Con, celebrating 80 years of the actor who co-founded the Tribeca festival,...
- 5/8/2024
- by Jazz Tangcay, Lexi Carson and Selena Kuznikov
- Variety Film + TV
Today, Apple Original Films unveiled the trailer for Fancy Dance, the acclaimed Sundance Film Festival selection from Confluential Films starring Lily Gladstone, the Killers of the Flower Moon award-winning and Academy Award-nominated lead actress.
The movie marks the feature directorial debut for Erica Tremblay, who also co-wrote and produced the film. Fancy Dance will premiere in select theaters on June 21, 2024, ahead of its global debut on Apple TV+ on June 28, 2024.
Since her sister’s disappearance, Jax (Gladstone) has cared for her niece Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson) by scraping by on the Seneca-Cayuga reservation in Oklahoma.
Every spare minute goes into finding her missing sister while also helping Roki prepare for an upcoming powwow.
At the risk of Jax losing custody to Roki’s grandfather, Frank (Shea Whigham), the pair hit the road and scour the backcountry to track down Roki’s mother in time for the powwow.
What begins as a...
The movie marks the feature directorial debut for Erica Tremblay, who also co-wrote and produced the film. Fancy Dance will premiere in select theaters on June 21, 2024, ahead of its global debut on Apple TV+ on June 28, 2024.
Since her sister’s disappearance, Jax (Gladstone) has cared for her niece Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson) by scraping by on the Seneca-Cayuga reservation in Oklahoma.
Every spare minute goes into finding her missing sister while also helping Roki prepare for an upcoming powwow.
At the risk of Jax losing custody to Roki’s grandfather, Frank (Shea Whigham), the pair hit the road and scour the backcountry to track down Roki’s mother in time for the powwow.
What begins as a...
- 5/8/2024
- by Mirko Parlevliet
- Vital Thrills
Lily Gladstone’s “Fancy Dance” is finally set to debut to a wide audience.
After Gladstone championed the indie film at the 2023 IndieWire Honors, the feature was acquired by Apple Original Films. Erica Tremblay co-wrote and directed “Fancy Dance,” which follows Jax (Gladstone) and her niece Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson) on the Seneca-Cayuga reservation in Oklahoma. Jax is searching for her sister, Roki’s mother, after Roki’s grandfather Frank (Shea Whigham) has filed to take custody in her absence. Jax and Roki embark on a roadtrip to find Roki’s mother in time for a powwow. The search becomes a “deeper investigation into the complexities and contradictions of Indigenous women moving through a colonized world while at the mercy of a failed justice system,” per the film’s synopsis.
Ryan Begay, Crystle Lightning, and Audrey Wasilewski also star.
“Killers of the Flower Moon” Oscar nominee Gladstone executive produced the film along with Forest Whitaker,...
After Gladstone championed the indie film at the 2023 IndieWire Honors, the feature was acquired by Apple Original Films. Erica Tremblay co-wrote and directed “Fancy Dance,” which follows Jax (Gladstone) and her niece Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson) on the Seneca-Cayuga reservation in Oklahoma. Jax is searching for her sister, Roki’s mother, after Roki’s grandfather Frank (Shea Whigham) has filed to take custody in her absence. Jax and Roki embark on a roadtrip to find Roki’s mother in time for a powwow. The search becomes a “deeper investigation into the complexities and contradictions of Indigenous women moving through a colonized world while at the mercy of a failed justice system,” per the film’s synopsis.
Ryan Begay, Crystle Lightning, and Audrey Wasilewski also star.
“Killers of the Flower Moon” Oscar nominee Gladstone executive produced the film along with Forest Whitaker,...
- 5/8/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Screen can exclusively reveal the first trailer for Phantoms Of The Sierra Madre, Havard Bustnes’ documentary about the search for a lost Apache tribe in Mexico.
The film has its world premiere in the Dox:Award competition at Cph:dox in March 2024.
Denmark’s Dr Sales handles world sales on the film.
Phantoms Of The Sierra Madre is produced by Bustnes, Christian Aune Falch and Bird Runningwater.
It follows Danish screenwriter Lars K. Andersen as he follows his childhood hero Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad, who in 1937 went on an expedition to Mexico to search for a lost Apache tribe.
Johatsu – Into Thin...
The film has its world premiere in the Dox:Award competition at Cph:dox in March 2024.
Denmark’s Dr Sales handles world sales on the film.
Phantoms Of The Sierra Madre is produced by Bustnes, Christian Aune Falch and Bird Runningwater.
It follows Danish screenwriter Lars K. Andersen as he follows his childhood hero Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad, who in 1937 went on an expedition to Mexico to search for a lost Apache tribe.
Johatsu – Into Thin...
- 3/1/2024
- ScreenDaily
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures has unveiled its slate of public programming for the 2024 spring season, which will include a tribute and retrospective of the work of Marlon Brando, a May the 4th “Star Wars” celebration and a world premiere 4K restoration of “Amadeus,” among others.
The Academy Museum will screen John Waters’ short films “Roman Candles” and “Hag in a Black Leather Jacket” with live commentary by Waters. Exhibitions include a celebration of Oscar-winning music in Indian cinema, a film series focused on queer female lensers in early Hollywood, a retrospective on actor Youn Yuh-Jung, a behind-the-scenes presentation of Dykstraflex, used to film the original “Star Wars” trilogy.
Special guests will include Ed Begley Jr., Cary Elwes, Jane Fonda, Yunte Huang, Nyla Innuksuk, Dr. Naomi Oreskes, Patricia Rozema, Bird Runningwater, Mink Stole, John Waters, Youn Yuh-jung and more.
“This spring, we’re delighted to present an array of one-of-a-kind programming,...
The Academy Museum will screen John Waters’ short films “Roman Candles” and “Hag in a Black Leather Jacket” with live commentary by Waters. Exhibitions include a celebration of Oscar-winning music in Indian cinema, a film series focused on queer female lensers in early Hollywood, a retrospective on actor Youn Yuh-Jung, a behind-the-scenes presentation of Dykstraflex, used to film the original “Star Wars” trilogy.
Special guests will include Ed Begley Jr., Cary Elwes, Jane Fonda, Yunte Huang, Nyla Innuksuk, Dr. Naomi Oreskes, Patricia Rozema, Bird Runningwater, Mink Stole, John Waters, Youn Yuh-jung and more.
“This spring, we’re delighted to present an array of one-of-a-kind programming,...
- 2/29/2024
- by Jazz Tangcay, Jaden Thompson, Caroline Brew and Diego Ramos Bechara
- Variety Film + TV
Apple Original Films has landed the global rights to “Fancy Dance,” which made its debut at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. The drama, starring Lily Gladstone, marks the feature directorial debut for Erica Tremblay, who also co-wrote and produced the film.
“Fancy Dance” will debut in theaters and on Apple TV+ this year. The announcement comes on the heels of Gladstone’s Oscar nomination for her performance as Mollie Burkhart in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” also from Apple.
“Our film ‘Fancy Dance’ has found the perfect home with Apple, and I am thrilled to share this beautiful story of two Seneca-Cayuga women with a global audience.” Tremblay said in a statement. “As a Native American filmmaker, seeing my community included in the rich tapestry of cinema is a dream come true.”
The story, written by Tremblay and Miciana Alise, follows Jax (Gladstone) on the Seneca-Cayuga Reservation in...
“Fancy Dance” will debut in theaters and on Apple TV+ this year. The announcement comes on the heels of Gladstone’s Oscar nomination for her performance as Mollie Burkhart in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” also from Apple.
“Our film ‘Fancy Dance’ has found the perfect home with Apple, and I am thrilled to share this beautiful story of two Seneca-Cayuga women with a global audience.” Tremblay said in a statement. “As a Native American filmmaker, seeing my community included in the rich tapestry of cinema is a dream come true.”
The story, written by Tremblay and Miciana Alise, follows Jax (Gladstone) on the Seneca-Cayuga Reservation in...
- 2/6/2024
- by Katcy Stephan
- Variety Film + TV
Apple Original Films said Tuesday that it has landed global rights to Fancy Dance, the indie drama that stars Oscar-nominated Killers of the Flower Moon actress Lily Gladstone alongside Isabel Deroy-Olson, Ryan Begay, Shea Whigham, Crystle Lightning and Audrey Wasilewski. The 2023 Sundance selection marks the feature directorial debut of Erica Tremblay, who also co-wrote the script with Miciana Alise.
A 2023 Sundance Film Festival selection, Fancy Dance is set to make its debut in theaters and on Apple TV+ later this year.
Tremblay’s film offers a nuanced account of the human costs of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women epidemic and the possibilities of healing for those left behind.
“Our film Fancy Dance has found the perfect home with Apple, and I am thrilled to share this beautiful story of two Seneca-Cayuga women with a global audience,” Tremblay said. “As a Native American filmmaker, seeing my community included in the...
A 2023 Sundance Film Festival selection, Fancy Dance is set to make its debut in theaters and on Apple TV+ later this year.
Tremblay’s film offers a nuanced account of the human costs of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women epidemic and the possibilities of healing for those left behind.
“Our film Fancy Dance has found the perfect home with Apple, and I am thrilled to share this beautiful story of two Seneca-Cayuga women with a global audience,” Tremblay said. “As a Native American filmmaker, seeing my community included in the...
- 2/6/2024
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
Apple has taken the worldwide rights to Fancy Dance, the 2023 Sundance Film Festival title that stars Lily Gladstone, who recently landed an Oscar nomination for Apple’s Killers of the Flower Moon.
Erica Tremblay, who worked on FX series Reservation Dogs as a writer and director, made her feature debut on the film and also co-wrote and produced. The news of the pick-up comes over a year after the film bowed at Park City and subsequent festivals. In November, Tremblay co-wrote a guest column for THR with co-writer Miciana Alise talking about the film’s struggle to find distribution.
“With a near-perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes and all of our accolades to boot, we are left mystified by the disconnect between our apparent success and an industry-supported distribution push,” reads the column. “Our film premiered in the same year as Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. Both films star Lily Gladstone,...
Erica Tremblay, who worked on FX series Reservation Dogs as a writer and director, made her feature debut on the film and also co-wrote and produced. The news of the pick-up comes over a year after the film bowed at Park City and subsequent festivals. In November, Tremblay co-wrote a guest column for THR with co-writer Miciana Alise talking about the film’s struggle to find distribution.
“With a near-perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes and all of our accolades to boot, we are left mystified by the disconnect between our apparent success and an industry-supported distribution push,” reads the column. “Our film premiered in the same year as Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. Both films star Lily Gladstone,...
- 2/6/2024
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Apple Original Films is back in business with Oscar-nominated Lily Gladstone and has acquired global rights to Sundance 2023 selection Fancy Dance.
Erica Tremblay’s feature directorial debut starring Gladstone, a star of Apple’s Oscar-nominated Killers Of The Flower Moon, will get a theatrical release prior to debuting on Apple TV+ this year.
Fancy Dance follows Jax, a woman living on the Seneca-Cayuga Reservation in Oklahoma, who investigates the disappearance of her sister while caring for her niece Roki as the youngster prepares for a ceremony.
Amid a growing custody dispute, Jax and Roki take off and scour the backcountry...
Erica Tremblay’s feature directorial debut starring Gladstone, a star of Apple’s Oscar-nominated Killers Of The Flower Moon, will get a theatrical release prior to debuting on Apple TV+ this year.
Fancy Dance follows Jax, a woman living on the Seneca-Cayuga Reservation in Oklahoma, who investigates the disappearance of her sister while caring for her niece Roki as the youngster prepares for a ceremony.
Amid a growing custody dispute, Jax and Roki take off and scour the backcountry...
- 2/6/2024
- ScreenDaily
Last Sundance was marked by a number of new official cultural affinity “houses” at the festival, and they will all be back.
Sunrise Collective, comprised of Daniel Dae Kim’s production banner 3Ad, Gold House and The Asian American Foundation, will again host its Sunrise House for the greater Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community, taking over the restaurant Riverhorse on Main Street during Sundance’s opening weekend, Jan. 19 to 21.
“By creating spaces that cultivate Aanhpi artists, we are building strong conduits for our stories to not only be told, but celebrated,” Taaf CEO Norman Chen said in a statement. “This year we are grateful to work with our special advisors, award-winning filmmakers and Sundance alumni Tanya Selvaratnam and Shruti Ganguly, to develop programming that elevates our collective and diverse voices.”
Sunrise House will kick off the morning of Jan. 19 with a tribute to Michael Latt, the social...
Sunrise Collective, comprised of Daniel Dae Kim’s production banner 3Ad, Gold House and The Asian American Foundation, will again host its Sunrise House for the greater Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community, taking over the restaurant Riverhorse on Main Street during Sundance’s opening weekend, Jan. 19 to 21.
“By creating spaces that cultivate Aanhpi artists, we are building strong conduits for our stories to not only be told, but celebrated,” Taaf CEO Norman Chen said in a statement. “This year we are grateful to work with our special advisors, award-winning filmmakers and Sundance alumni Tanya Selvaratnam and Shruti Ganguly, to develop programming that elevates our collective and diverse voices.”
Sunrise House will kick off the morning of Jan. 19 with a tribute to Michael Latt, the social...
- 1/16/2024
- by Rebecca Sun
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Hollywood Reporter hosted the inaugural “Raising Our Voices” luncheon, sponsored by The Golden Globes, Wallis Annenberg GenSpace, and East West Bank at the Audrey Irmas Pavilion on Wednesday, May 31.
Eva Longoria speaks onstage during The Hollywood Reporter Raising Our Voices Deia Luncheon
Credit/Copyright: Michael Kovac/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images
“Raising Our Voices” brought together the industry’s most influential and inspiring executives, storytellers and thought leaders for a groundbreaking series of discussions on the state and future of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in Hollywood.
During the program, keynote speaker Taika Waititi (Academy Award-winning screenwriter (JoJo Rabbit)), Emmy Award-nominated television producer, actor and filmmaker) was introduced by Bird Runningwater (Executive Producer and Activist). During his speech, Waititi spoke about the journey of moving forward to foster more diversity in the entertainment world and his beliefs on the best practices for incorporating representation within movies and film.
Eva Longoria speaks onstage during The Hollywood Reporter Raising Our Voices Deia Luncheon
Credit/Copyright: Michael Kovac/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images
“Raising Our Voices” brought together the industry’s most influential and inspiring executives, storytellers and thought leaders for a groundbreaking series of discussions on the state and future of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in Hollywood.
During the program, keynote speaker Taika Waititi (Academy Award-winning screenwriter (JoJo Rabbit)), Emmy Award-nominated television producer, actor and filmmaker) was introduced by Bird Runningwater (Executive Producer and Activist). During his speech, Waititi spoke about the journey of moving forward to foster more diversity in the entertainment world and his beliefs on the best practices for incorporating representation within movies and film.
- 6/8/2023
- Look to the Stars
Taika Waititi and Sterlin Harjo have a routine they’ve done at parties that kills. They perfected it at Sundance in the early 2000s, in a condo dance-off with two Navajo guys. “Taika would strike this Michael Jackson pose with his hand pointing in the air and unbutton the pearl button on his shirt,” says Harjo, the Seminole-Muskogee director with whom Waititi would go on to co-create the FX comedy series Reservation Dogs in 2019. “And I was the wind in his shirt.” The duo also delivered a full-throated karaoke version of Queen’s “Under Pressure,” for which they still get requests.
Before he became a global acting-writing-directing star with an Oscar and a Marvel résumé, Waititi, a Maori-Jewish filmmaker from New Zealand, found community in the U.S. among Native American filmmakers like Harjo. “One of the things we all connected on was our disdain for how we appear onscreen in white productions,...
Before he became a global acting-writing-directing star with an Oscar and a Marvel résumé, Waititi, a Maori-Jewish filmmaker from New Zealand, found community in the U.S. among Native American filmmakers like Harjo. “One of the things we all connected on was our disdain for how we appear onscreen in white productions,...
- 5/31/2023
- by Rebecca Keegan
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Outfest Fusion, LA nonprofit Outfest‘s film festival dedicated to queer Bipoc storytelling, has unveiled the full lineup of films for its 20th anniversary festival.
10 features, 93 short films, and four TV presentations will screen during the March festival in Los Angeles, including Sundance documentaries “Little Richard: I Am Everything” and “The Stroll.” Documentary “Kenyatta: Do Not Wait Your Turn,” produced by Xpedition and Al Roker, and featuring Lee Daniels, will make its North American premiere during the festival; in total, 23 films will make world premieres, five will make their U.S. premiere, four their international premieres, and three their North American premieres. Over half of all films were directed by women, non-binary, two spirit, or gender-nonconforming filmmakers.
“We are at a moment where our industry is ready to have an honest dialogue about inclusion, investment and representation of people of color and yet our entire LGBTQ+ population is facing a...
10 features, 93 short films, and four TV presentations will screen during the March festival in Los Angeles, including Sundance documentaries “Little Richard: I Am Everything” and “The Stroll.” Documentary “Kenyatta: Do Not Wait Your Turn,” produced by Xpedition and Al Roker, and featuring Lee Daniels, will make its North American premiere during the festival; in total, 23 films will make world premieres, five will make their U.S. premiere, four their international premieres, and three their North American premieres. Over half of all films were directed by women, non-binary, two spirit, or gender-nonconforming filmmakers.
“We are at a moment where our industry is ready to have an honest dialogue about inclusion, investment and representation of people of color and yet our entire LGBTQ+ population is facing a...
- 3/15/2023
- by Wilson Chapman
- Indiewire
Marlee Matlin no doubt had a busy Friday morning here in Park City, where she’s serving on the U.S. Dramatic Competition jury for this year’s Sundance Film Festival. However, she did manage to sneak in a few minutes of an oh-so-common pastime: scrolling on social media. What she saw left her fuming.
“I was looking on my Facebook page and I happened to see a mother of a friend of mine, a young girl who’s deaf,” detailed Matlin while seated opposite fest participants Randall Park, Zackary Drucker and Alethea Arnaquq-Bari on the panel The Big Conversation: Complicating Representation at Main Street’s Filmmaker Lodge. “She was involved in a show called Kidz Bop. Savannah’s her name, and she was very excited. This is the first time that you’ve seen a deaf girl on that show, and I was so jazzed for her.”
The 12-year-old youngster,...
“I was looking on my Facebook page and I happened to see a mother of a friend of mine, a young girl who’s deaf,” detailed Matlin while seated opposite fest participants Randall Park, Zackary Drucker and Alethea Arnaquq-Bari on the panel The Big Conversation: Complicating Representation at Main Street’s Filmmaker Lodge. “She was involved in a show called Kidz Bop. Savannah’s her name, and she was very excited. This is the first time that you’ve seen a deaf girl on that show, and I was so jazzed for her.”
The 12-year-old youngster,...
- 1/21/2023
- by Chris Gardner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
As the lauded festival kicks off later this week, the odds are very much in Sundance’s favor. It’s not just that Sundance 2023 has a bigger lineup than the festival has boasted over the past two years (in a virtual market). It’s not even that being back in-person will likely rekindle the magic of seeing a movie in high altitudes and crowded theaters.
Rather, as the agents and industry sources who spoke to IndieWire tell us, there’s the sense that this year’s festival not only touts plenty of commercial options across every section of the lineup, but that Sundance is also back to being a place for the discovery of indie films. Leave the studio premieres of awards bait for Toronto and Venice!
So while the power and possibility of theatrical releasing is still a big question mark, streaming budgets are being slashed, and virtual markets...
Rather, as the agents and industry sources who spoke to IndieWire tell us, there’s the sense that this year’s festival not only touts plenty of commercial options across every section of the lineup, but that Sundance is also back to being a place for the discovery of indie films. Leave the studio premieres of awards bait for Toronto and Venice!
So while the power and possibility of theatrical releasing is still a big question mark, streaming budgets are being slashed, and virtual markets...
- 1/17/2023
- by Brian Welk
- Indiewire
Tazbah Chavez is one of the voices behind "Reservation Dogs." The writer, executive producer, and director first met the show's creator, Sterlin Harjo, when she was a teenager attending film festivals. Harjo was one of the many artists, including Taika Waititi, who responded to Chavez's writing. Almost a decade later, they're all now working together on the acclaimed FX show.
Presently, Chavez is in the writers' room for the next chapter in the series. For season 2, she directed "Decolonativization" and "Wide Net." Outside of "Reservation Dogs," Chavez directed "Your Name Isn't English" and wrote for "Resident Alien" and "Rutherford Falls." She is a a poet, as well, with a knack for atmosphere and feeling she always tries to bring to "Reservation Dogs." During a recent Zoom call, the artist talked us through writing and directing on the series, as well as what to expect from "Reservation Dogs" season 3.
'The Most...
Presently, Chavez is in the writers' room for the next chapter in the series. For season 2, she directed "Decolonativization" and "Wide Net." Outside of "Reservation Dogs," Chavez directed "Your Name Isn't English" and wrote for "Resident Alien" and "Rutherford Falls." She is a a poet, as well, with a knack for atmosphere and feeling she always tries to bring to "Reservation Dogs." During a recent Zoom call, the artist talked us through writing and directing on the series, as well as what to expect from "Reservation Dogs" season 3.
'The Most...
- 10/17/2022
- by Jack Giroux
- Slash Film
Sacheen Littlefeather, the Native American civil rights activist who declined Marlon Brando’s 1973 Best Actor Oscar on his behalf, discussed that famous night and the Academy of the Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ recent apology for the way she was treated at an event in her honor over the weekend.
Littlefeather’s speech has loomed large in Oscar history: After Brando won the Best Actor prize for his turn in The Godfather, Littlefeather took the stage and, at Brando’s request, declined the award and spoke instead about the stereotyping...
Littlefeather’s speech has loomed large in Oscar history: After Brando won the Best Actor prize for his turn in The Godfather, Littlefeather took the stage and, at Brando’s request, declined the award and spoke instead about the stereotyping...
- 9/19/2022
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
Click here to read the full article.
An ugly stain of bigotry in Oscars history eventually led to a celebration of Indigenous culture, hosted at the symbolic heart of the motion picture industry, nearly half a century later.
On Saturday, the Academy welcomed Sacheen Littlefeather to its museum for an evening curated in her honor, an event that was both a culmination and continuation of its efforts to apologize to and reconcile with the actress and activist who was blacklisted from the industry for speaking up in protest of the treatment of Native Americans on- and offscreen.
“In one of our many conversations with Sacheen in preparation for this event, we asked, ‘What does reconciliation look like to you?’ And that single, powerful question has led us to this evening,” said Academy Museum director and president Jacqueline Stewart, who emceed the program alongside Earl Neconie (Kiowa/Okla.), a longtime friend of Littlefeather’s.
An ugly stain of bigotry in Oscars history eventually led to a celebration of Indigenous culture, hosted at the symbolic heart of the motion picture industry, nearly half a century later.
On Saturday, the Academy welcomed Sacheen Littlefeather to its museum for an evening curated in her honor, an event that was both a culmination and continuation of its efforts to apologize to and reconcile with the actress and activist who was blacklisted from the industry for speaking up in protest of the treatment of Native Americans on- and offscreen.
“In one of our many conversations with Sacheen in preparation for this event, we asked, ‘What does reconciliation look like to you?’ And that single, powerful question has led us to this evening,” said Academy Museum director and president Jacqueline Stewart, who emceed the program alongside Earl Neconie (Kiowa/Okla.), a longtime friend of Littlefeather’s.
- 9/19/2022
- by Rebecca Sun
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences attempted to right a decades-old wrong with an apology. The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that the Academy privately presented Native American activist and former actress Sacheen Littlefeather with a statement apologizing for her public mistreatment at the 45th Academy Awards. Littlefeather, who is Apache and Yaqui, is 75 years old now, but she was just 26 when she stepped up to the stage to decline Marlon Brando's best actor award and speak about America's mistreatment of Indigenous peoples in 1973.
The actor won the award for his role in "The Godfather," but sent Littlefeather to speak on his behalf with at least eight pages of his remarks typed in advance. The moment that followed is a black mark on the history of the Academy. Littlefeather has since revealed that she wasn't allowed to read Brando's statement, as show producer Howard Koch...
The actor won the award for his role in "The Godfather," but sent Littlefeather to speak on his behalf with at least eight pages of his remarks typed in advance. The moment that followed is a black mark on the history of the Academy. Littlefeather has since revealed that she wasn't allowed to read Brando's statement, as show producer Howard Koch...
- 8/19/2022
- by Valerie Ettenhofer
- Slash Film
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Monday that it has formally apologized to Sacheen Littlefeather over the actress’ famed appearance at the 1973 Oscars, where she appeared on Marlon Brando’s behalf to decline his Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in The Godfather.
The “statement of reconciliation” signed by then-ampas president David Rubin was sent in June but revealed today as the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures announced plans for “An Evening with Sacheen Littlefeather,” a program involving and programmed by Littlefeather that will take place September 17.
Read Rubin’s letter below.
At the 1973 Oscars, Littlefeather read a message from Brando after his name was announced highlighting Native American stereotypes in the entertainment industry as well as the 1973 Wounded Knee protest in South Dakota. The Academy said today the moment “resulted in her being professionally boycotted, personally attacked and harassed, and discriminated against for the last 50 years.
The “statement of reconciliation” signed by then-ampas president David Rubin was sent in June but revealed today as the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures announced plans for “An Evening with Sacheen Littlefeather,” a program involving and programmed by Littlefeather that will take place September 17.
Read Rubin’s letter below.
At the 1973 Oscars, Littlefeather read a message from Brando after his name was announced highlighting Native American stereotypes in the entertainment industry as well as the 1973 Wounded Knee protest in South Dakota. The Academy said today the moment “resulted in her being professionally boycotted, personally attacked and harassed, and discriminated against for the last 50 years.
- 8/15/2022
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has sent a letter of apology to Sacheen Littlefeather, the indigenous activist who spoke on Marlon Brando’s behalf at the 1973 Oscars, calling the treatment she received for her speech “unwarranted and unjustified.”
Nearly 50 years ago, Littlefeather attended the Oscars in Brando’s place after the actor decided to boycott the ceremony out of protest for the portrayal of Native Americans in the entertainment industry. When Brando was named the winner of the Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in “The Godfather,” Littlefeather gave a speech on Brando’s behalf declining the honor with a mix of applause and jeers, with presenters Raquel Welch and Clint Eastwood making dismissive jokes about Brando and Littlefeather’s actions later that evening.
“You made a powerful statement that continues to remind us of the necessity of respect and the importance of human dignity,” former Academy President David Rubin wrote.
Nearly 50 years ago, Littlefeather attended the Oscars in Brando’s place after the actor decided to boycott the ceremony out of protest for the portrayal of Native Americans in the entertainment industry. When Brando was named the winner of the Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in “The Godfather,” Littlefeather gave a speech on Brando’s behalf declining the honor with a mix of applause and jeers, with presenters Raquel Welch and Clint Eastwood making dismissive jokes about Brando and Littlefeather’s actions later that evening.
“You made a powerful statement that continues to remind us of the necessity of respect and the importance of human dignity,” former Academy President David Rubin wrote.
- 8/15/2022
- by Jeremy Fuster
- The Wrap
Lifelong activist to take part in on-stage conversation.
The Academy has published an apology presented to Sacheen Littlefeather in June, nearly 50 years after the Native American activist declined Marlon Brando’s Oscar and delivered a speech which the Academy said resulted in professional and personal repercussions.
Littlefeather was a Screen Actors Guild member when she walked on stage in 1973 at the behest of her friend, rejected his lead actor Oscar for The Godfather, and talked about Native Americans stereotypes in the entertainment industry. The speech, a recording of which is enshrined in the Academy Museum in Los Angeles, baffled the...
The Academy has published an apology presented to Sacheen Littlefeather in June, nearly 50 years after the Native American activist declined Marlon Brando’s Oscar and delivered a speech which the Academy said resulted in professional and personal repercussions.
Littlefeather was a Screen Actors Guild member when she walked on stage in 1973 at the behest of her friend, rejected his lead actor Oscar for The Godfather, and talked about Native Americans stereotypes in the entertainment industry. The speech, a recording of which is enshrined in the Academy Museum in Los Angeles, baffled the...
- 8/15/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Sacheen Littlefeather made history in 1973 when she turned down the Academy Award for Best Actor on behalf of “The Godfather” winner Marlon Brando. Almost 50 years later, Indigenous activist Littlefeather is now also cementing her record on Hollywood representation: She’s now one of the few people in history to ever receive a formal apology from the Academy.
“As you stood on the Oscars stage in 1973 to not accept the Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando, in recognition of the misrepresentation and mistreatment of Native American people by the film industry, you made a powerful statement that continues to remind us of the necessity of respect and the importance of human dignity,” a letter signed by former Academy President David Rubin stated, as addressed June 18.
Littlefeather will also be the guest of honor at “an evening of healing and Indigenous celebration” hosted by the Academy Museum in Los Angeles on September 17.
The letter continues,...
“As you stood on the Oscars stage in 1973 to not accept the Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando, in recognition of the misrepresentation and mistreatment of Native American people by the film industry, you made a powerful statement that continues to remind us of the necessity of respect and the importance of human dignity,” a letter signed by former Academy President David Rubin stated, as addressed June 18.
Littlefeather will also be the guest of honor at “an evening of healing and Indigenous celebration” hosted by the Academy Museum in Los Angeles on September 17.
The letter continues,...
- 8/15/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Click here to read the full article.
The first time Sacheen Littlefeather encountered the Academy, in 1973, she was booed onstage at the Oscars, heckled with mock ululations and so-called “tomahawk chops” offstage, and threatened with arrest and physical assault.
Nearly half a century later, she will return to the Academy as an invited guest of honor for an evening of reflection at the Academy Museum, featuring something she never dared to imagine: a formal apology from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
“I was stunned. I never thought I’d live to see the day I would be hearing this, experiencing this,” Littlefeather (Apache/Yaqui/Ariz.), now 75, tells The Hollywood Reporter of receiving the Academy’s statement, which was first privately presented to her in June. “When I was at the podium in 1973, I stood there alone.”
Back then, in an instantly historic moment in both Oscars and live television history,...
The first time Sacheen Littlefeather encountered the Academy, in 1973, she was booed onstage at the Oscars, heckled with mock ululations and so-called “tomahawk chops” offstage, and threatened with arrest and physical assault.
Nearly half a century later, she will return to the Academy as an invited guest of honor for an evening of reflection at the Academy Museum, featuring something she never dared to imagine: a formal apology from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
“I was stunned. I never thought I’d live to see the day I would be hearing this, experiencing this,” Littlefeather (Apache/Yaqui/Ariz.), now 75, tells The Hollywood Reporter of receiving the Academy’s statement, which was first privately presented to her in June. “When I was at the podium in 1973, I stood there alone.”
Back then, in an instantly historic moment in both Oscars and live television history,...
- 8/15/2022
- by Rebecca Sun
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Primetime includes Allen Hughes FX docuseries Dear Mama, Season 5 of Hulu Original The Handmaid’s Tale.
TIFF brass have announced seven Primetime TV series including 1899 from the creators of Netflix’s German hit Dark and programming for the five-day Industry Conference.
Primetime includes Allen Hughes’s FX docuseries Dear Mama about the late rapper Tupac Shakur and his activist mother Afeni Shakur, as well as Season 5 of Hulu Original The Handmaid’s Tale, and the North American premiere of Lars von Trier’s The Kingdom Exodus from Zentropa.
Returning to the Glenn Gould Theatre, TIFF’s Industry Conference line-up...
TIFF brass have announced seven Primetime TV series including 1899 from the creators of Netflix’s German hit Dark and programming for the five-day Industry Conference.
Primetime includes Allen Hughes’s FX docuseries Dear Mama about the late rapper Tupac Shakur and his activist mother Afeni Shakur, as well as Season 5 of Hulu Original The Handmaid’s Tale, and the North American premiere of Lars von Trier’s The Kingdom Exodus from Zentropa.
Returning to the Glenn Gould Theatre, TIFF’s Industry Conference line-up...
- 8/10/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The Toronto International Film Festival Primetime program is set to spotlight seven compelling and thought-provoking television series from around the world — including five world premieres. In addition to series premieres, TIFF will present season premieres of established and beloved shows.
Returning to the Glenn Gould Theatre, TIFF’s Industry Conference lineup also announced today will engage and inspire industry delegates from all over the world with a highly curated slate of sessions and inspiring speakers. This year’s festival runs September 8 through 16.
Heading up the series lineup is, among others, Lars von Trier with the return of his twisted dark comedy series “The Kingdom,” revolving around a supernatural hospital. Alexander Skarsgård joins the cast of the series this time.
“TIFF recognizes serialized storytelling as one of the most groundbreaking creative mediums today,” said Anita Lee, Chief Programming Officer, TIFF. “Growing increasingly risk-taking, it continues to attract top writers and directors globally.
Returning to the Glenn Gould Theatre, TIFF’s Industry Conference lineup also announced today will engage and inspire industry delegates from all over the world with a highly curated slate of sessions and inspiring speakers. This year’s festival runs September 8 through 16.
Heading up the series lineup is, among others, Lars von Trier with the return of his twisted dark comedy series “The Kingdom,” revolving around a supernatural hospital. Alexander Skarsgård joins the cast of the series this time.
“TIFF recognizes serialized storytelling as one of the most groundbreaking creative mediums today,” said Anita Lee, Chief Programming Officer, TIFF. “Growing increasingly risk-taking, it continues to attract top writers and directors globally.
- 8/10/2022
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Click here to read the full article.
The Toronto Film Festival has unveiled the first wave of speakers for its Industry Conference lineup in September.
Veteran director and actor Tyler Perry; Bill Kramer, CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; and newly named Academy president Janet Yang lead the slate of Hollywood creative talent and executives taking part in keynotes and panels.
Besides premiering his new Netflix film, A Jazzman’s Blues, in Toronto, Perry will discuss his career as a film writer, director, producer, actor and studio owner. Kramer and Yang will share the stage at TIFF to possibly discuss Oscars drama and organizational reforms at the Film Academy.
Industry conference organizers have also invited representatives from the Academy, the Screen Actors Guild and other Hollywood stakeholders to discuss “The Future of Awards” as each organization has an evolving impact on the film industry.
The industry event...
The Toronto Film Festival has unveiled the first wave of speakers for its Industry Conference lineup in September.
Veteran director and actor Tyler Perry; Bill Kramer, CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; and newly named Academy president Janet Yang lead the slate of Hollywood creative talent and executives taking part in keynotes and panels.
Besides premiering his new Netflix film, A Jazzman’s Blues, in Toronto, Perry will discuss his career as a film writer, director, producer, actor and studio owner. Kramer and Yang will share the stage at TIFF to possibly discuss Oscars drama and organizational reforms at the Film Academy.
Industry conference organizers have also invited representatives from the Academy, the Screen Actors Guild and other Hollywood stakeholders to discuss “The Future of Awards” as each organization has an evolving impact on the film industry.
The industry event...
- 8/10/2022
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Click here to read the full article.
There is a Planned Parenthood in South L.A. five minutes from USC, where Storm Reid goes to college.
“I have friends who have been in situations where they’ve had to go to Planned Parenthood,” the Euphoria star said in a conversation with Ava DuVernay and Nina Shaw on Thursday afternoon in Ojai. “That right could possibly be taken away from the people I care about and people who don’t have the resources to be able to be a normal young human and make a mistake or whatever the case may be.
“The [possibility] they don’t have the ability to have a choice of what they do to their body is devastating,” Reid continued, beginning to cry onstage. “I hate calling myself an activist because I’m not on the ground doing the work activists do, but I try through my...
There is a Planned Parenthood in South L.A. five minutes from USC, where Storm Reid goes to college.
“I have friends who have been in situations where they’ve had to go to Planned Parenthood,” the Euphoria star said in a conversation with Ava DuVernay and Nina Shaw on Thursday afternoon in Ojai. “That right could possibly be taken away from the people I care about and people who don’t have the resources to be able to be a normal young human and make a mistake or whatever the case may be.
“The [possibility] they don’t have the ability to have a choice of what they do to their body is devastating,” Reid continued, beginning to cry onstage. “I hate calling myself an activist because I’m not on the ground doing the work activists do, but I try through my...
- 6/26/2022
- by Rebecca Sun
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Bentonville Film Festival announces the jury prize winners for their 8th annual Festival.
The week-long Festival, led by Academy Award-winning actor and Festival Chair Geena Davis,is known for its dedication to championing female, non-binary, Lgbtqia+, Bipoc, and people with disabilities’ voices in entertainment.
Every Day in Kaimuki was awarded Best Narrative Feature with director Alika Tengan and cast in attendance. Special honors presented Fin Argus with the Rising Star Award for their truly outstanding talent that has captured the attention of both the public and entertainment and media industry, and Effie Brown with the Rising to the Challenge Award honoring her success supporting indie film projects, both on and off screen.
The 2022 Bff Jury included six experts across three categories: Narrative judges included Producer, Bird Runningwater, Actor/Filmmaker, Yolonda Ross and Producer Shrihari Sathe; Documentary judges included Emmy Award-winning actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, Producer/Distributor Karin Chien and Filmmaker...
The week-long Festival, led by Academy Award-winning actor and Festival Chair Geena Davis,is known for its dedication to championing female, non-binary, Lgbtqia+, Bipoc, and people with disabilities’ voices in entertainment.
Every Day in Kaimuki was awarded Best Narrative Feature with director Alika Tengan and cast in attendance. Special honors presented Fin Argus with the Rising Star Award for their truly outstanding talent that has captured the attention of both the public and entertainment and media industry, and Effie Brown with the Rising to the Challenge Award honoring her success supporting indie film projects, both on and off screen.
The 2022 Bff Jury included six experts across three categories: Narrative judges included Producer, Bird Runningwater, Actor/Filmmaker, Yolonda Ross and Producer Shrihari Sathe; Documentary judges included Emmy Award-winning actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, Producer/Distributor Karin Chien and Filmmaker...
- 6/26/2022
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: NewFilmmakers Los Angeles today announced the winners of its 10th annual Best of Nfmla Awards.
The list included Huella‘s Gabriella Ortega (Best New Filmmaker), Tracey Deer’s Beans (Best Feature Film), Nelson G. Navarrete and Maxx Caicedo’s A La Calle (Best Documentary Feature Film), Ciara Lacy’s This Is the Way We Rise, JJ Shpall’s Date Nite, Isabella Issa’s Yellow Girl and Me, Sarah Clift’s The Birth of Valerie Venus, Gustavo Milan’s Under the Heavens (Seiva Bruta), Bastien Dubois’ Souvenir Souvenir, Devone X. King’s Last Black Man (Best New Media & Experimental), Arnold Mwanjila’s Taliya (Best Screenplay), I Make Good Sounds at Parties‘ Russell Goldman, Yellow Girl and Me‘s Dior Wilson, Sweet Potatoes‘ Luke Sargent (Best Cinematography), From Here‘s Christina Antonakos-Wallace and Aletta Von Vietinghoff (Best Film Editing), The Fire Next Time‘s Jose Pablo Ramirez (Best Sound Design) and Livin’ in the Light‘s Onry (Best Score).
The Best of Nfmla Awards look to recognize the best talent in independent cinema from around the globe. This year’s edition included 125 nominees across 16 Award categories. All nominated projects screened as part of the Nfmla Monthly Film Festival 2021 season which ran from January 1st, 2021 through December 31st, 2021. Best New Filmmaker winner Ortega claimed a 3,000 Anthony Rhulen grant, with numerous other winners nabbing grants of 2,000. Over 5,000 in Blackmagic Design equipment will also be awarded to select winners, with post host Picture Shop hosting a post-production workshop for all nominees and winners.
Nfmla is a Los Angeles-based arts and culture non-profit organization that works year-round to highlight the works of independent artists. Its full list of 2022 Best of Nfmla nominees can be found here.
***
Exclusive: Doc10 today announced its first-ever awards program, which this year will honor documentary filmmakers N. Bird Runningwater and Jessica Devaney.
The inaugural Luminary Award, celebrating filmmakers that shine a light on vital social issues, will be presented to Runningwater, who has supported such films as Billy Luther’s Miss Navajo and Heather Rae’s Trudell. The Vanguard Award, created to honor innovative and important documentary filmmakers, will be presented to Devaney, producer of some 17 shorts and features, including 2021 Doc10 selection Pray Away.
“The inaugural Luminary and Vanguard Awards were born to celebrate and promote the power of independent filmmaking,” said Doc10 co-founders Steve Cohen and Paula Froehle. “Jess and Bird represent the now and the future of great, cinematic documentary producing and how independent, fearless storytelling can promote real change in our world.” The 7th Doc10 documentary film festival will run from May 19-22 at the Davis Theatre and the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago. To find out more about it or to purchase tickets, click here.
***
Exclusive: Patricia Velasquez (The Mummy) will exec produce and star in the sci-fi thriller Space Racer, from writer-director Erik Bernard (Free Dead or Alive), with NFTs related to the film to be released by Karman Studios at the Cannes Marché du Film.
The pic from Bernard’s Rebel 6 Films and Gemini Films takes place in the year 2084. It finds Earth beginning to look to space for survival, at a point when it’s barely able to sustain human life. At this juncture, humans have contacted alien race, with pilot James Colt earning the opportunity to represent Earth in its first intergalactic race.
Bernard and Lyndon Tait wrote the script for the pic, which is intended to set up a trilogy. Kevin Grevioux (Underworld) is producing, with Velasquez, Bernard and Courtney LeMarco (Hoarders) exec producing, and Jasmin Espada (Free Dead or Alive) serving as co-producer. Velasquez is represented by Insurge-Ent and Innovative Artists; Bernard and LeMarco by Espada PR & Entertainment; and Grevioux by Brent Johnson of One Entertainment.
***
Exclusive: Toric Films‘ Ojan Missaghi and David Wachs will be seeking distribution for their films Day Labor, Out of Hand and Deadly Games at this year’s Cannes Film Festival—with actor Gilles Marini (The Rookie) also on hand to promote the company’s slate.
Day Labor watches as a Latin American veteran seeks work as a day laborer in order to keep his family afloat. A regular day turns into a deadly game of survival when he is mistakenly dropped off at a private ranch in El Paso, Texas to be hunted for sport. R. Ellis Frazier directed the pic, which stars Amy Johnston, Louis Mandylor and Danny Arrory.
Director Brian Skiba’s Out of Hand is a thriller centered on Valerie (Louise Linton), a charismatic and sophisticated college professor who is married to a younger personal trainer heartthrob, David (Pierson Fode). When the couple leaves town to a secluded cabin in Lake Tahoe, things start to unravel. William Baldwin, Joana Metrass , David Wachs and Christy St. John also star.
Then, there’s Deadly Games, in which four female influencers are invited to paradise island to partake in a million-dollar opportunity by a crypto mogul, fighting to gain the most subscribers during their weekend for the paysite contest. When one of the girls ends up dead, and the murder gets kept a secret, the influencers get more than they bargained for. Missaghi directed and produced the pic, which stars Marini, Metrass, Vanessa Angel, Roberto ‘Sanz’ Sanchez, Krista Kalmus and Emelina Adams.
***
Exclusive: Lost Souls collaborators John F. Uranday and Bobby Cloud will be bringing their new indie drama Depth of Field to Cannes’ Marché du Film.
The film directed by Uranday tells the story of Charles (Rafael Petardi), a widower who has given up on life, until he meets a foster child next door that changes his life forever. It also stars George Stroumboulopoulos (The Communist’s Daughter), Jay Acovone (Fox’s Lethal Weapon), Carrie Quinn Dolin (Bruce Almighty), Ella Thomas (NCIS: Los Angeles), Diana Diaz (Music) and Thea Saccoliti. Producer Cloud, who is also an attorney, co-wrote the script with Uranday, with Jeffrey Stevens serving as a story contributor. Uranday also produced, along with Orlin Dobreff, Mike G, Rafael Petardi, Tom Summers and Tristan Salas Henry, with Stroumboulopoulos serving as exec producer. Uranday and Cloud are repped by Espada PR & Entertainment.
***
Exclusive: Freestyle Digital Media has acquired North American rights to the romance Bristol Fashion, with plans to release it across internet and satellite platforms on June 7th.
The film tells the story of a young transgender woman, Christina (Lea Nayeli), who escapes her troubled home to find solace in a dilapidated boatyard. When she buys a broken-down boat for that purpose, she gets more than she bargained for in the boat’s owner, Esteban (Raul A. Perez)—warm, funny and dying to take her to dinner. He gives her a place to stay on an abandoned barge and helps her fix up the boat, and slowly but surely, they find themselves navigating the sometimes-messy waters of a straight man falling for a trans woman.
Pierre Guillet and Timothy John Foster wrote and produced Bristol Fashion, with Guillet directing. Richard Difrisco also stars. Freestyle Digital Media negotiated the deal to acquire the film directly with Glen Reynolds of Circus Road Films. Its trailer can be found below.
***
Exclusive: Deadline has a new trailer for Lisa Hepner and Guy Mossman’s feature doc The Human Trial, which Abramorama is releasing in North American theaters and on its Watch Now @ Home virtual cinema platform on June 24th.
More than a decade in the making, the film follows a groundbreaking clinical trial that peels back the headlines to show the sweat, passion and sacrifice behind every breakthrough cure. In 2011, Hepner and her husband Mossman heard about a radical stem cell treatment for diabetes, a disease that shockingly kills more than five million people each year. Driven by a desire to cure Lisa of her own type 1 diabetes, the filmmakers were given unprecedented access to a clinical trial—only the sixth ever stem cell trial in the world. What follows is an intimate journey with the patients and scientists who put themselves on the line to be first.
Hepner scripted the project and produced alongside Jonathan Formica (Lost & Found) and Kristin Lesko (O.J.: Made in America), with diabetes org Beyond Type 1 exec producing alongside Amy Rapp (The Woman Who Wasn’t There), Marla Oringer, Greer Wylder and Thom Scher. Check out the trailer for The Human Trial below.
***
Exclusive: Deadline has an exclusive clip from the feature doc Since I Been Down, which is set for release on VOD on May 24th.
The film from director Gilda Sheppard stakes us to Tacoma, Washington. Influenced by the national drug war frenzy and the fear-based culture of punishment in the 1980s and ’90s, Tacoma sacrificed its most vulnerable children to a life behind bars. These children, who are now adults, cannot be silenced. As we hear them tell their stories, bravely, unapologetically, we realize: This is the story of ‘Everytown USA’.
June Nho Ivers, Saman Maydani and Bonnie Benjamin-Phariss produced the doc, with Sheppard and David Menschel serving as executive producers. Our exclusive clip from the film can be found below.
***
Hallie and Audrey McPherson will be bringing their dramedy Earthquake Country to Dances With Films on Saturday, June 18th at 7:15 p.m. Pst.
The film written and directed by The McPherson Sisters centers on Rhyme Osbourne (Lydian Blossom), who is fed up with her mother’s alcoholism and delusions of grandeur and her father’s literal inability to get off the couch. On her eighteenth birthday, Rhyme puts into motion a plan that will cut ties with her family—for good. Set in 2007 in the seemingly idyllic Ojai, CA, the film is a coming-of-age story that explores the creation of family mythology, the malleability of memory, and the sometimes suffocating intimacy of the nuclear family.
Deborah Marks-Bertling, Alex Sorian Brown, Todd Caroll, Nigel Vonas, Melina Emilie, Madison Widener and Kyle Hester also star. Pic was produced by the McPhersons and Melina Hayum.
***
Filmmaker Alex Proyas‘ production outfit Heretic Foundation and development company Mystery Clock Cinema this week announced a co-production/financing partnership with the UK-based 108 Media, which has launched worldwide sales and packaging on his latest feature, the horror Sister Darkness.
The female-driven film marking the first of several forthcoming collaborations between the parties is set in the UK in the 1930s—at a time when women were marginalized and exploited. It follows the newly-wed but unhappy Alice as she stumbles across her doppelgänger Isla, whose existence is a mystery seeped in a tale of bloody retribution against her oppressors, the hellish supernatural nightscape, and a dread uprising against the deceitful aristocracy. Pic will go before camera in Australia later this year.
Proyas negotiated his multi-faceted deal with 108 Media’s CEO Abhi Rastogi and President (Production) Justin Deimen, with support from Rod Smith and Steven Rosser (Legal Counsel), General Manager & Executive Producer Andrew Robinson, Studio Producer Erasmo (Raz) Raimundo, and Craig Emmanuel of Paul Hastings in Los Angeles.
***
Gkids has acquired North American rights to writer-director Atsuko Ishizuka’s first original feature Goodbye, Don Glees!. The distributor will release both the original Japanese-language version of the film and an all-new English-language dub in theaters this year, on the heels of the film’s February 2022 release in Japan.
The film produced by the acclaimed studio Madhouse follows the story of three friends over the course of one summer, as their backyard adventures turn one small incident into a life-changing journey. It features the voices of Ayumu Murase, Natsuki Hanae, Kana Hanazawa and Yuuki Kaji, and is represented internationally by Kadokawa.
The list included Huella‘s Gabriella Ortega (Best New Filmmaker), Tracey Deer’s Beans (Best Feature Film), Nelson G. Navarrete and Maxx Caicedo’s A La Calle (Best Documentary Feature Film), Ciara Lacy’s This Is the Way We Rise, JJ Shpall’s Date Nite, Isabella Issa’s Yellow Girl and Me, Sarah Clift’s The Birth of Valerie Venus, Gustavo Milan’s Under the Heavens (Seiva Bruta), Bastien Dubois’ Souvenir Souvenir, Devone X. King’s Last Black Man (Best New Media & Experimental), Arnold Mwanjila’s Taliya (Best Screenplay), I Make Good Sounds at Parties‘ Russell Goldman, Yellow Girl and Me‘s Dior Wilson, Sweet Potatoes‘ Luke Sargent (Best Cinematography), From Here‘s Christina Antonakos-Wallace and Aletta Von Vietinghoff (Best Film Editing), The Fire Next Time‘s Jose Pablo Ramirez (Best Sound Design) and Livin’ in the Light‘s Onry (Best Score).
The Best of Nfmla Awards look to recognize the best talent in independent cinema from around the globe. This year’s edition included 125 nominees across 16 Award categories. All nominated projects screened as part of the Nfmla Monthly Film Festival 2021 season which ran from January 1st, 2021 through December 31st, 2021. Best New Filmmaker winner Ortega claimed a 3,000 Anthony Rhulen grant, with numerous other winners nabbing grants of 2,000. Over 5,000 in Blackmagic Design equipment will also be awarded to select winners, with post host Picture Shop hosting a post-production workshop for all nominees and winners.
Nfmla is a Los Angeles-based arts and culture non-profit organization that works year-round to highlight the works of independent artists. Its full list of 2022 Best of Nfmla nominees can be found here.
***
Exclusive: Doc10 today announced its first-ever awards program, which this year will honor documentary filmmakers N. Bird Runningwater and Jessica Devaney.
The inaugural Luminary Award, celebrating filmmakers that shine a light on vital social issues, will be presented to Runningwater, who has supported such films as Billy Luther’s Miss Navajo and Heather Rae’s Trudell. The Vanguard Award, created to honor innovative and important documentary filmmakers, will be presented to Devaney, producer of some 17 shorts and features, including 2021 Doc10 selection Pray Away.
“The inaugural Luminary and Vanguard Awards were born to celebrate and promote the power of independent filmmaking,” said Doc10 co-founders Steve Cohen and Paula Froehle. “Jess and Bird represent the now and the future of great, cinematic documentary producing and how independent, fearless storytelling can promote real change in our world.” The 7th Doc10 documentary film festival will run from May 19-22 at the Davis Theatre and the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago. To find out more about it or to purchase tickets, click here.
***
Exclusive: Patricia Velasquez (The Mummy) will exec produce and star in the sci-fi thriller Space Racer, from writer-director Erik Bernard (Free Dead or Alive), with NFTs related to the film to be released by Karman Studios at the Cannes Marché du Film.
The pic from Bernard’s Rebel 6 Films and Gemini Films takes place in the year 2084. It finds Earth beginning to look to space for survival, at a point when it’s barely able to sustain human life. At this juncture, humans have contacted alien race, with pilot James Colt earning the opportunity to represent Earth in its first intergalactic race.
Bernard and Lyndon Tait wrote the script for the pic, which is intended to set up a trilogy. Kevin Grevioux (Underworld) is producing, with Velasquez, Bernard and Courtney LeMarco (Hoarders) exec producing, and Jasmin Espada (Free Dead or Alive) serving as co-producer. Velasquez is represented by Insurge-Ent and Innovative Artists; Bernard and LeMarco by Espada PR & Entertainment; and Grevioux by Brent Johnson of One Entertainment.
***
Exclusive: Toric Films‘ Ojan Missaghi and David Wachs will be seeking distribution for their films Day Labor, Out of Hand and Deadly Games at this year’s Cannes Film Festival—with actor Gilles Marini (The Rookie) also on hand to promote the company’s slate.
Day Labor watches as a Latin American veteran seeks work as a day laborer in order to keep his family afloat. A regular day turns into a deadly game of survival when he is mistakenly dropped off at a private ranch in El Paso, Texas to be hunted for sport. R. Ellis Frazier directed the pic, which stars Amy Johnston, Louis Mandylor and Danny Arrory.
Director Brian Skiba’s Out of Hand is a thriller centered on Valerie (Louise Linton), a charismatic and sophisticated college professor who is married to a younger personal trainer heartthrob, David (Pierson Fode). When the couple leaves town to a secluded cabin in Lake Tahoe, things start to unravel. William Baldwin, Joana Metrass , David Wachs and Christy St. John also star.
Then, there’s Deadly Games, in which four female influencers are invited to paradise island to partake in a million-dollar opportunity by a crypto mogul, fighting to gain the most subscribers during their weekend for the paysite contest. When one of the girls ends up dead, and the murder gets kept a secret, the influencers get more than they bargained for. Missaghi directed and produced the pic, which stars Marini, Metrass, Vanessa Angel, Roberto ‘Sanz’ Sanchez, Krista Kalmus and Emelina Adams.
***
Exclusive: Lost Souls collaborators John F. Uranday and Bobby Cloud will be bringing their new indie drama Depth of Field to Cannes’ Marché du Film.
The film directed by Uranday tells the story of Charles (Rafael Petardi), a widower who has given up on life, until he meets a foster child next door that changes his life forever. It also stars George Stroumboulopoulos (The Communist’s Daughter), Jay Acovone (Fox’s Lethal Weapon), Carrie Quinn Dolin (Bruce Almighty), Ella Thomas (NCIS: Los Angeles), Diana Diaz (Music) and Thea Saccoliti. Producer Cloud, who is also an attorney, co-wrote the script with Uranday, with Jeffrey Stevens serving as a story contributor. Uranday also produced, along with Orlin Dobreff, Mike G, Rafael Petardi, Tom Summers and Tristan Salas Henry, with Stroumboulopoulos serving as exec producer. Uranday and Cloud are repped by Espada PR & Entertainment.
***
Exclusive: Freestyle Digital Media has acquired North American rights to the romance Bristol Fashion, with plans to release it across internet and satellite platforms on June 7th.
The film tells the story of a young transgender woman, Christina (Lea Nayeli), who escapes her troubled home to find solace in a dilapidated boatyard. When she buys a broken-down boat for that purpose, she gets more than she bargained for in the boat’s owner, Esteban (Raul A. Perez)—warm, funny and dying to take her to dinner. He gives her a place to stay on an abandoned barge and helps her fix up the boat, and slowly but surely, they find themselves navigating the sometimes-messy waters of a straight man falling for a trans woman.
Pierre Guillet and Timothy John Foster wrote and produced Bristol Fashion, with Guillet directing. Richard Difrisco also stars. Freestyle Digital Media negotiated the deal to acquire the film directly with Glen Reynolds of Circus Road Films. Its trailer can be found below.
***
Exclusive: Deadline has a new trailer for Lisa Hepner and Guy Mossman’s feature doc The Human Trial, which Abramorama is releasing in North American theaters and on its Watch Now @ Home virtual cinema platform on June 24th.
More than a decade in the making, the film follows a groundbreaking clinical trial that peels back the headlines to show the sweat, passion and sacrifice behind every breakthrough cure. In 2011, Hepner and her husband Mossman heard about a radical stem cell treatment for diabetes, a disease that shockingly kills more than five million people each year. Driven by a desire to cure Lisa of her own type 1 diabetes, the filmmakers were given unprecedented access to a clinical trial—only the sixth ever stem cell trial in the world. What follows is an intimate journey with the patients and scientists who put themselves on the line to be first.
Hepner scripted the project and produced alongside Jonathan Formica (Lost & Found) and Kristin Lesko (O.J.: Made in America), with diabetes org Beyond Type 1 exec producing alongside Amy Rapp (The Woman Who Wasn’t There), Marla Oringer, Greer Wylder and Thom Scher. Check out the trailer for The Human Trial below.
***
Exclusive: Deadline has an exclusive clip from the feature doc Since I Been Down, which is set for release on VOD on May 24th.
The film from director Gilda Sheppard stakes us to Tacoma, Washington. Influenced by the national drug war frenzy and the fear-based culture of punishment in the 1980s and ’90s, Tacoma sacrificed its most vulnerable children to a life behind bars. These children, who are now adults, cannot be silenced. As we hear them tell their stories, bravely, unapologetically, we realize: This is the story of ‘Everytown USA’.
June Nho Ivers, Saman Maydani and Bonnie Benjamin-Phariss produced the doc, with Sheppard and David Menschel serving as executive producers. Our exclusive clip from the film can be found below.
***
Hallie and Audrey McPherson will be bringing their dramedy Earthquake Country to Dances With Films on Saturday, June 18th at 7:15 p.m. Pst.
The film written and directed by The McPherson Sisters centers on Rhyme Osbourne (Lydian Blossom), who is fed up with her mother’s alcoholism and delusions of grandeur and her father’s literal inability to get off the couch. On her eighteenth birthday, Rhyme puts into motion a plan that will cut ties with her family—for good. Set in 2007 in the seemingly idyllic Ojai, CA, the film is a coming-of-age story that explores the creation of family mythology, the malleability of memory, and the sometimes suffocating intimacy of the nuclear family.
Deborah Marks-Bertling, Alex Sorian Brown, Todd Caroll, Nigel Vonas, Melina Emilie, Madison Widener and Kyle Hester also star. Pic was produced by the McPhersons and Melina Hayum.
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Filmmaker Alex Proyas‘ production outfit Heretic Foundation and development company Mystery Clock Cinema this week announced a co-production/financing partnership with the UK-based 108 Media, which has launched worldwide sales and packaging on his latest feature, the horror Sister Darkness.
The female-driven film marking the first of several forthcoming collaborations between the parties is set in the UK in the 1930s—at a time when women were marginalized and exploited. It follows the newly-wed but unhappy Alice as she stumbles across her doppelgänger Isla, whose existence is a mystery seeped in a tale of bloody retribution against her oppressors, the hellish supernatural nightscape, and a dread uprising against the deceitful aristocracy. Pic will go before camera in Australia later this year.
Proyas negotiated his multi-faceted deal with 108 Media’s CEO Abhi Rastogi and President (Production) Justin Deimen, with support from Rod Smith and Steven Rosser (Legal Counsel), General Manager & Executive Producer Andrew Robinson, Studio Producer Erasmo (Raz) Raimundo, and Craig Emmanuel of Paul Hastings in Los Angeles.
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Gkids has acquired North American rights to writer-director Atsuko Ishizuka’s first original feature Goodbye, Don Glees!. The distributor will release both the original Japanese-language version of the film and an all-new English-language dub in theaters this year, on the heels of the film’s February 2022 release in Japan.
The film produced by the acclaimed studio Madhouse follows the story of three friends over the course of one summer, as their backyard adventures turn one small incident into a life-changing journey. It features the voices of Ayumu Murase, Natsuki Hanae, Kana Hanazawa and Yuuki Kaji, and is represented internationally by Kadokawa.
- 5/20/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
The Sundance Institute has named the summer fellows for the Directors, Screenwriters and Native Labs.
The Labs give writers and directors a space to develop their craft and selected projects with input from a roster of industry mentors and advisers. Some parts of this year’s labs, normally held in person in Utah, will take place virtually on the Sundance Collab platform.
At the Directors Lab, which runs June 1 to July 2, filmmakers will participated in roundtable discussions, presentatons and one-on-one meetings, as well as rehearsing, shooting and editing a scene from their work-in-progress screenplays at home. The Screenwriters lab, from July 6-9, will support one-on-one story sessions to develop original and timely screenplays.
The Native lab, running from Monday to May 21, focuses on storytellers from Native and Indigenous backgrounds, including feature film, episodic work and cultivating artists-in-residence.
The labs are organized under feature film program founding director Michelle Satter, deputy...
The Labs give writers and directors a space to develop their craft and selected projects with input from a roster of industry mentors and advisers. Some parts of this year’s labs, normally held in person in Utah, will take place virtually on the Sundance Collab platform.
At the Directors Lab, which runs June 1 to July 2, filmmakers will participated in roundtable discussions, presentatons and one-on-one meetings, as well as rehearsing, shooting and editing a scene from their work-in-progress screenplays at home. The Screenwriters lab, from July 6-9, will support one-on-one story sessions to develop original and timely screenplays.
The Native lab, running from Monday to May 21, focuses on storytellers from Native and Indigenous backgrounds, including feature film, episodic work and cultivating artists-in-residence.
The labs are organized under feature film program founding director Michelle Satter, deputy...
- 5/10/2021
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
Labs organised by Michelle Satter, director Ilyse McKimmie, and N. Bird Runningwater.
Sundance Institute on Monday (May 10) named the artists and projects selected for the first group of the upcoming signature summer Labs including 12 fellows for the Directors and Screenwriters Labs and nine participating in the Native Lab. One fellow will participate in both Labs.
Directors Lab (June 1-July 2) fellows and projects are: Erica Tremblay (co-writer/director) and Miciana Alise (co-writer) with Fancy Dance; Cris Gris (director) and Mary Ann Anane (Writer) with forward; Tracy Droz Tragos (writer/director) with The Macrobiotic Toker; Diego Céspedes (writer/director) with The Mysterious...
Sundance Institute on Monday (May 10) named the artists and projects selected for the first group of the upcoming signature summer Labs including 12 fellows for the Directors and Screenwriters Labs and nine participating in the Native Lab. One fellow will participate in both Labs.
Directors Lab (June 1-July 2) fellows and projects are: Erica Tremblay (co-writer/director) and Miciana Alise (co-writer) with Fancy Dance; Cris Gris (director) and Mary Ann Anane (Writer) with forward; Tracy Droz Tragos (writer/director) with The Macrobiotic Toker; Diego Céspedes (writer/director) with The Mysterious...
- 5/10/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The Sundance Institute and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation on Friday unveiled recipients of their 2021 grants and bestowed the annual Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize to Son of Monarchs, Alexis Gambis’ feature that is making its international debut in the Next section at the Sundance Film Festival.
This year’s honorees also include Pharmacopeia‘s Tania Taiwo (Sundance Institute | Sloan Commissioning Grant), Chariot‘s Alyssa Loh (Sundance Institute | Sloan Development Fellowship), and Jennifer Lee and Graham Sack for The Harvard Computers (Sundance Institute | Sloan Episodic Fellowship).
Son of Monarchs will receive a $20,000 check for the honor, part of the annual Sloan program to encourage filmmakers to create more realistic and compelling stories about science and technology and to challenge existing stereotypes about scientists and engineers in the popular imagination.
The grant awards this year total $70,000 as part of the Sundance Institute Science-in-Film Initiative, which is made possible by a grant from the foundation.
This year’s honorees also include Pharmacopeia‘s Tania Taiwo (Sundance Institute | Sloan Commissioning Grant), Chariot‘s Alyssa Loh (Sundance Institute | Sloan Development Fellowship), and Jennifer Lee and Graham Sack for The Harvard Computers (Sundance Institute | Sloan Episodic Fellowship).
Son of Monarchs will receive a $20,000 check for the honor, part of the annual Sloan program to encourage filmmakers to create more realistic and compelling stories about science and technology and to challenge existing stereotypes about scientists and engineers in the popular imagination.
The grant awards this year total $70,000 as part of the Sundance Institute Science-in-Film Initiative, which is made possible by a grant from the foundation.
- 1/29/2021
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: The Black List, along with IllumiNative and the Sundance Institute have selected the nine scripts for the inaugural Indigneous List, which spotlights some of the best (if not the best) Indigenous film and television writers living and working within the U.S.
Submissions for The Indigenous List kicked off in June and closed in September. The Native-led nonprofit Illuminative launched to increase the visibility of Native peoples in American society. They challenge negative narratives, stories, and stereotypes about Native peoples and provide tools to develop an accurate representation of voices of Native peoples.
Here are the scripts selected for The first Indigenous List in alphabetical order:
Bunker Boss by Joey Clift
After a nuclear war forces most of humanity into underground bunkers, a total loser must become the inspirational leader of a bunker known to execute any leader that drops below a 60% approval rating. (Animated)
Fancy Dance by Erica Tremblay...
Submissions for The Indigenous List kicked off in June and closed in September. The Native-led nonprofit Illuminative launched to increase the visibility of Native peoples in American society. They challenge negative narratives, stories, and stereotypes about Native peoples and provide tools to develop an accurate representation of voices of Native peoples.
Here are the scripts selected for The first Indigenous List in alphabetical order:
Bunker Boss by Joey Clift
After a nuclear war forces most of humanity into underground bunkers, a total loser must become the inspirational leader of a bunker known to execute any leader that drops below a 60% approval rating. (Animated)
Fancy Dance by Erica Tremblay...
- 12/8/2020
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
The Sundance Institute has selected the five Indigenous filmmakers that will participate in the 2020 Sundance Institute Native Filmmakers Lab which will be reimagined digitally this year on Sundance Co//ab. The fellows chosen include Rob Fatal, Keanu Jones, Amanda Strong, Cole Forrest and Petyr Xyst.
The Native Filmmakers Lab, which has supported Indigenous storytellers since its inception, kicked off on June 29 and will continue through July 10. The fellows will workshop scripts of their short films with mentorship from Indigenous Program alumni and other established filmmaking professionals serving as Advisors along with the Sundance Indigenous Program staff, led by Indigenous Program Director N. Bird Runningwater (Cheyenne/Mescalero Apache). Following the Lab, Fellows will receive a year-long continuum of support.
“We are pleased to announce that we will be hosting our annual Native Filmmakers Lab in an exciting digital format on our Co//ab platform that allows for virtual participation by our...
The Native Filmmakers Lab, which has supported Indigenous storytellers since its inception, kicked off on June 29 and will continue through July 10. The fellows will workshop scripts of their short films with mentorship from Indigenous Program alumni and other established filmmaking professionals serving as Advisors along with the Sundance Indigenous Program staff, led by Indigenous Program Director N. Bird Runningwater (Cheyenne/Mescalero Apache). Following the Lab, Fellows will receive a year-long continuum of support.
“We are pleased to announce that we will be hosting our annual Native Filmmakers Lab in an exciting digital format on our Co//ab platform that allows for virtual participation by our...
- 6/30/2020
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: You have to give Ava DuVernay credit for great timing today as the A Wrinkle in Time director’s Array acquired the Sundance Film Festival documentary Merata.
The pick-up by the film collective comes on the very same day that the Robert Redford founded fest announced the latest recipients of the annual Merata Mita Fellowship named in honor of the late Māori filmmaker.
The 20th feature film acquisition by the nine-year old Array, Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen spotlights the barrier smashing life and work of Mita as long time Sundance Institute advisor and activist became the first Indigenous woman in the world to direct a film on her own. An official Sff selection in the Documentary Premieres category, the never-seen-before-footage rich Merata debuted today in Park City and will have three more screenings this Sundance.
Gordon Bobb of the Del, Shaw, Moonves, Tanaka, Finkelstein & Lezcano law firm...
The pick-up by the film collective comes on the very same day that the Robert Redford founded fest announced the latest recipients of the annual Merata Mita Fellowship named in honor of the late Māori filmmaker.
The 20th feature film acquisition by the nine-year old Array, Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen spotlights the barrier smashing life and work of Mita as long time Sundance Institute advisor and activist became the first Indigenous woman in the world to direct a film on her own. An official Sff selection in the Documentary Premieres category, the never-seen-before-footage rich Merata debuted today in Park City and will have three more screenings this Sundance.
Gordon Bobb of the Del, Shaw, Moonves, Tanaka, Finkelstein & Lezcano law firm...
- 1/29/2019
- by Dominic Patten
- Deadline Film + TV
Melbourne filmmaker Amie Batalibasi has been named the recipient of the 2017 Sundance Institute Merata Mita Fellowship.
The annual fellowship, named in honour of the late Māori filmmaker Merata Mita, provides one Native or Indigenous filmmaker from around the world a cash grant and year-long support, including a trip to the Sundance Film Festival, access to strategic and creative services offered by Sundance Institute artist programs, and mentorship opportunities.
Batalibasi, an Australian Soloman Islander, is a writer, director and producer. A Vca grad, Batalibasi is currently adapting her award-winning short film.Blackbird.into a feature. The film explores the little-known history of Australia.s sugar slaves and .blackbirding,. where from 1863-1904 approximately 60,000 Pacific Islanders were taken, often by kidnapping and coercion, to work on the country.s sugar cane and cotton farms.
The story follows Siosi, a spirited young Solomon Islander who is brutally snatched from his island home and forced...
The annual fellowship, named in honour of the late Māori filmmaker Merata Mita, provides one Native or Indigenous filmmaker from around the world a cash grant and year-long support, including a trip to the Sundance Film Festival, access to strategic and creative services offered by Sundance Institute artist programs, and mentorship opportunities.
Batalibasi, an Australian Soloman Islander, is a writer, director and producer. A Vca grad, Batalibasi is currently adapting her award-winning short film.Blackbird.into a feature. The film explores the little-known history of Australia.s sugar slaves and .blackbirding,. where from 1863-1904 approximately 60,000 Pacific Islanders were taken, often by kidnapping and coercion, to work on the country.s sugar cane and cotton farms.
The story follows Siosi, a spirited young Solomon Islander who is brutally snatched from his island home and forced...
- 1/24/2017
- by Staff Writer
- IF.com.au
As the 2016 Sundance Film Festival underway in Park City, Sundance Institute has unveiled their latest initiative to support underrepresented creative voices. The Merata Mita Fellowship, a new annual fellowship named in honor of the late Māori filmmaker Merata Mita (1942-2010), was announced today. The first recipient is Ciara Leina’ala Lacy (Kanaka Maoli) from O’ahu, Hawai’i. In addition to networking opportunities at the Sundance Film Festival, Lacy will receive a monetary grant, yearlong continuum of support, access to strategic and creative services offered by Sundance Institute’s artists programs and mentorship opportunities.
Merata Mita (Ngai te Rangi/Ngati Pikiao) was New Zealand's first Indigenous female filmmaker. She served as an advisor and artistic director of the Sundance Institute NativeLab from 2000 to 2009, where she championed emerging Indigenous talent. The 2016 Merata Mita Fellowship is supported by several international partners, including: the Embassy of Australia; New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi (Te Whanau a Apanui), who has a new film at the festival this year; Indigenous Media Initiatives; and Pacific Islanders in Communications.
“As a noted activist, documentarian, and the first—and only—Māori woman to write and direct a dramatic feature film, Merata committed her life’s work to telling Māori stories from a Māori perspective,” Sundance Institute Native American and Indigenous Film Program Director Bird Runningwater (Cheyenne/Mescalero Apache) said. “Throughout her career she identified the lack of training for Māori people in the New Zealand film and television industry and, therefore, an underrepresentation of her community’s stories. Merata dedicated her life to addressing these areas. She was a global advocate for Indigenous voices and we are proud to continue her efforts through this new fellowship.”
Lacy is a documentary filmmaker whose interest lies in crafting films that use strong characters and investigative journalism to challenge the creative and political status quo. She has received fellowships from the Sundance Institute's NativeLab as well as the Sundance Institute in partnership with Time Warner, the Firelight Documentary Lab, the Princess Grace Foundation, and the Independent Filmmaker Project (Ifp). Her latest project is "Out of State" which is the story of outcasts, native Hawaiian prisoners shipped 3,000 miles across the ocean to a private prison in the desert of Arizona. Desperate to repair relationships with faraway family and friends, these men practice their indigenous chants and dances behind bars in the hopes of winning everything they love most.
Lacy has worked as a producer, writer, production supervisor, and production manager of both nonfiction and scripted programming. Her work has shown in theaters as well as aired on PBS, ABC, TLC, Discovery, Bravo and A&E. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in psychology from Yale University and is a graduate of the Kamehameha Schools in Hawai’i. Lacy grew up dancing hula and speaks her Native language.
The Merata Mita Fellowship will be open to Native or Indigenous filmmakers around the world who are in any stage of career or production, with an emphasis on those who have a feature-length project—documentary or dramatic—in development. Fellows will receive a monetary grant and a yearlong continuum of support with activities including a trip to the Sundance Film Festival, access to strategic and creative services offered by Sundance Institute artist programs, and mentorship opportunities.
Merata Mita (Ngai te Rangi/Ngati Pikiao) was New Zealand's first Indigenous female filmmaker. She served as an advisor and artistic director of the Sundance Institute NativeLab from 2000 to 2009, where she championed emerging Indigenous talent. The 2016 Merata Mita Fellowship is supported by several international partners, including: the Embassy of Australia; New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi (Te Whanau a Apanui), who has a new film at the festival this year; Indigenous Media Initiatives; and Pacific Islanders in Communications.
“As a noted activist, documentarian, and the first—and only—Māori woman to write and direct a dramatic feature film, Merata committed her life’s work to telling Māori stories from a Māori perspective,” Sundance Institute Native American and Indigenous Film Program Director Bird Runningwater (Cheyenne/Mescalero Apache) said. “Throughout her career she identified the lack of training for Māori people in the New Zealand film and television industry and, therefore, an underrepresentation of her community’s stories. Merata dedicated her life to addressing these areas. She was a global advocate for Indigenous voices and we are proud to continue her efforts through this new fellowship.”
Lacy is a documentary filmmaker whose interest lies in crafting films that use strong characters and investigative journalism to challenge the creative and political status quo. She has received fellowships from the Sundance Institute's NativeLab as well as the Sundance Institute in partnership with Time Warner, the Firelight Documentary Lab, the Princess Grace Foundation, and the Independent Filmmaker Project (Ifp). Her latest project is "Out of State" which is the story of outcasts, native Hawaiian prisoners shipped 3,000 miles across the ocean to a private prison in the desert of Arizona. Desperate to repair relationships with faraway family and friends, these men practice their indigenous chants and dances behind bars in the hopes of winning everything they love most.
Lacy has worked as a producer, writer, production supervisor, and production manager of both nonfiction and scripted programming. Her work has shown in theaters as well as aired on PBS, ABC, TLC, Discovery, Bravo and A&E. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in psychology from Yale University and is a graduate of the Kamehameha Schools in Hawai’i. Lacy grew up dancing hula and speaks her Native language.
The Merata Mita Fellowship will be open to Native or Indigenous filmmakers around the world who are in any stage of career or production, with an emphasis on those who have a feature-length project—documentary or dramatic—in development. Fellows will receive a monetary grant and a yearlong continuum of support with activities including a trip to the Sundance Film Festival, access to strategic and creative services offered by Sundance Institute artist programs, and mentorship opportunities.
- 1/25/2016
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
Read More: Attention, Young Filmmakers: Here's Your Chance to Go to Sundance The Sundance Institute has chosen four Native American filmmakers between the ages of 18 and 24 to receive its 2016 Full Circle Fellowships. The program focuses on supporting Native American filmmakers and encouraging new talent from Native American youth. This years fellows are Megan Babbitt, Taylor Bennett-Begaye, Devin Weekley-Dean and Shaandiin Tome. The fellows will attend the annual Native Forum held at the beginning of the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, and will then be mentored by independent filmmakers and creative advisors. "Through the Full Circle Fellowship we build on our longstanding mentorship and support for three generations of Native filmmakers by focusing on the emerging fourth generation and ensuring these young artists have the tools and resources to share their stories," said N. Bird Runningwater, Director of Sundance Institute’s Native American and...
- 11/2/2015
- by Ryan Anielski
- Indiewire
Two up-and-coming Native talents, Razelle Benally (Navajo/Oglala Lakota) and Randi LeClair (Pawnee) have been selected for the Sundance Institute Native Filmmakers Lab, where the two writers will receive grants for production and targeted support during a residential Lab to prepare for production of their short films.
The Lab takes place in Santa Fe, New Mexico July 10-14. The Lab is a highlight of the Institute’s year-round work with Native American and Indigenous filmmakers and is one of the 24 residential labs the Institute hosts each year to discover and foster the talent of emerging independent artists in film, theater, new media and more recently episodic content.
The Native Filmmakers Lab builds on the Institute’s former NativeLab to include grants to support production of the Fellows’ short films – a first for the Institute’s renowned independent artist Labs. The writers and directors serving as Creative Advisors for this year’s Lab include: Janicza Bravo ("Gregory Go Boom" and "Pauline Alone"), Beck Cole ( "Plains Empty" and "Here I Am" ), Sydney Freeland ("Drunktown's Finest" and "HoverBoard" ), Aurora Guerrero ( "Pura Lengua" and "Mosquita y Mari" ) and Lucas Leyva ( "#PostModem" and "Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke" ).
N. Bird Runningwater (Cheyenne/Mescalero Apache), director of the Sundance Institute Native American and Indigenous Program, said, “Our Native Filmmakers Lab responds to the unique need within our community to support Native American artists with grants and mentorship focusing on the crucial phase of producing their films. I am excited to embark on this creative journey with these two bright female directors as they begin the tactical phase of creating their films.”
The Native Filmmakers Lab will be followed by the inaugural Native Writers Workshop, jointly hosted by Sundance Institute and the Institute of American Indian Arts (Iaia). The Workshop will support six emerging Native storytellers who seek to share their voices in film and television: Gabe Abeyta (Taos Pueblo and Navajo from Santa Fe, Nm), Katie Avery (Iñupiaq from Los Angeles, CA), Kelly D'Angelo (Haudenosaunee from Los Angeles, CA), Felicia Nez (Navajo from Albuquerque, Nm), Blue Tarpalechee (Muscogee from Santa Fe, Nm) and Kaherawaks Thompson (St. Regis Mohawks of Akwesasne from Memphis, Tn).
They will be mentored by: Beck Cole (Writer, "Here I Am" and "Black Comedy" ), Jason Gavin (Writer, "Greek, "Friday Night Lights"), Derek Santos Olson (Writer, "Friday Night Lights" ), Sierra Ornelas (Writer, "Selfie" and "Happy Endings" ), Alex Rivera (Writer/Director, "Sleep Dealer" ) and Joan Tewkesbury (Writer, "Nashville" and "Thieves Like Us" ).
True to founder Robert Redford’s original vision, the Institute maintains a strong commitment to supporting Native and Indigenous filmmakers. The Native program has built and sustained a unique support cycle for Indigenous artists through grants, labs, mentorships, a fellowship program at the Sundance Film Festival, and screenings for Native communities to inspire new generations of storytellers. Currently operating programs in the United States, Canada, and formerly New Zealand and Australia, the Institute has established a rich legacy of work by supporting more than 300 Native and Indigenous filmmakers, including Taika Waititi, Chris Eyre, Sterlin Harjo, Billy Luther, Andrew Okpeaha MacLean, Aurora Guerrero, Sydney Freeland and Yolanda Cruz.
There are the two artists/projects selected for the 2015 Native Filmmakers Lab:
"I Am Thy Weapon"
Razelle Benally (Navajo/Oglala Lakota)
A young artistic Navajo woman relives memories of her deceased sister, that in turn help her heal and battle against the modern-day adversities of reservation life.
Razelle Benally is of Oglala Lakota and Navajo blood. Benally’s firsthand experience while filming and traveling with renowned skateboard company Apache Skateboards has helped her hone a self-developed style of editing and directing. She most notably gained acclaim for her short documentary "The Humble," and six-minute experimental piece "Love is a Losing Game." Benally is one of five young women featured in the 2011 documentary, "Apache Chronicle."
She has shown in galleries in Long Beach, CA and in Phoenix, Az. Her films have been shown nationally and internationally at select screenings in Portland, Winnipeg Manitoba Canada, and Sweden. She earned a third place award in the 2007 Aihec Film Festival, and is the 2010 Santa Fe Indian Market jury-awarded winner for Best Documentary in Swaia’s Classification X. Benally is an alumna of the 2012 Sundance Institute Native Filmmakers Lab.
"The Other Side of the Bridge"
Randi LeClair (Pawnee)
After two high school football stars are found dead, decade’s long racial tensions sizzle in a small-town diner.
Randi LeClair is an enrolled member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma. She graduated from Oklahoma State University with a BA in English (Creative Writing) and is currently a graduate student in the University of Oklahoma’s Master of Professional Writing program. Recently, Randi and her husband, Todd, signed an option agreement for the screen adaptation of Todd’s book, "60 Feet Six Inches and Other Distances from Home: The (Baseball) Life of Mose YellowHorse," which follows the story of Pittsburg Pirates pitcher Mose YellowHorse, the first full-blood American Indian in the major leagues.
In addition to screenwriting, Randi also engages her love of literary fiction and is currently working on a collection of short stories. As well, she also serves as co-editor for "Out of the Stars: An Anthology of Pawnee Writing, Stories, and Art." Her dream is to help bring Native Cinema to the mainstream. She is an alumna of the 2010 Sundance Institute Native Filmmakers Lab.
The Lab takes place in Santa Fe, New Mexico July 10-14. The Lab is a highlight of the Institute’s year-round work with Native American and Indigenous filmmakers and is one of the 24 residential labs the Institute hosts each year to discover and foster the talent of emerging independent artists in film, theater, new media and more recently episodic content.
The Native Filmmakers Lab builds on the Institute’s former NativeLab to include grants to support production of the Fellows’ short films – a first for the Institute’s renowned independent artist Labs. The writers and directors serving as Creative Advisors for this year’s Lab include: Janicza Bravo ("Gregory Go Boom" and "Pauline Alone"), Beck Cole ( "Plains Empty" and "Here I Am" ), Sydney Freeland ("Drunktown's Finest" and "HoverBoard" ), Aurora Guerrero ( "Pura Lengua" and "Mosquita y Mari" ) and Lucas Leyva ( "#PostModem" and "Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke" ).
N. Bird Runningwater (Cheyenne/Mescalero Apache), director of the Sundance Institute Native American and Indigenous Program, said, “Our Native Filmmakers Lab responds to the unique need within our community to support Native American artists with grants and mentorship focusing on the crucial phase of producing their films. I am excited to embark on this creative journey with these two bright female directors as they begin the tactical phase of creating their films.”
The Native Filmmakers Lab will be followed by the inaugural Native Writers Workshop, jointly hosted by Sundance Institute and the Institute of American Indian Arts (Iaia). The Workshop will support six emerging Native storytellers who seek to share their voices in film and television: Gabe Abeyta (Taos Pueblo and Navajo from Santa Fe, Nm), Katie Avery (Iñupiaq from Los Angeles, CA), Kelly D'Angelo (Haudenosaunee from Los Angeles, CA), Felicia Nez (Navajo from Albuquerque, Nm), Blue Tarpalechee (Muscogee from Santa Fe, Nm) and Kaherawaks Thompson (St. Regis Mohawks of Akwesasne from Memphis, Tn).
They will be mentored by: Beck Cole (Writer, "Here I Am" and "Black Comedy" ), Jason Gavin (Writer, "Greek, "Friday Night Lights"), Derek Santos Olson (Writer, "Friday Night Lights" ), Sierra Ornelas (Writer, "Selfie" and "Happy Endings" ), Alex Rivera (Writer/Director, "Sleep Dealer" ) and Joan Tewkesbury (Writer, "Nashville" and "Thieves Like Us" ).
True to founder Robert Redford’s original vision, the Institute maintains a strong commitment to supporting Native and Indigenous filmmakers. The Native program has built and sustained a unique support cycle for Indigenous artists through grants, labs, mentorships, a fellowship program at the Sundance Film Festival, and screenings for Native communities to inspire new generations of storytellers. Currently operating programs in the United States, Canada, and formerly New Zealand and Australia, the Institute has established a rich legacy of work by supporting more than 300 Native and Indigenous filmmakers, including Taika Waititi, Chris Eyre, Sterlin Harjo, Billy Luther, Andrew Okpeaha MacLean, Aurora Guerrero, Sydney Freeland and Yolanda Cruz.
There are the two artists/projects selected for the 2015 Native Filmmakers Lab:
"I Am Thy Weapon"
Razelle Benally (Navajo/Oglala Lakota)
A young artistic Navajo woman relives memories of her deceased sister, that in turn help her heal and battle against the modern-day adversities of reservation life.
Razelle Benally is of Oglala Lakota and Navajo blood. Benally’s firsthand experience while filming and traveling with renowned skateboard company Apache Skateboards has helped her hone a self-developed style of editing and directing. She most notably gained acclaim for her short documentary "The Humble," and six-minute experimental piece "Love is a Losing Game." Benally is one of five young women featured in the 2011 documentary, "Apache Chronicle."
She has shown in galleries in Long Beach, CA and in Phoenix, Az. Her films have been shown nationally and internationally at select screenings in Portland, Winnipeg Manitoba Canada, and Sweden. She earned a third place award in the 2007 Aihec Film Festival, and is the 2010 Santa Fe Indian Market jury-awarded winner for Best Documentary in Swaia’s Classification X. Benally is an alumna of the 2012 Sundance Institute Native Filmmakers Lab.
"The Other Side of the Bridge"
Randi LeClair (Pawnee)
After two high school football stars are found dead, decade’s long racial tensions sizzle in a small-town diner.
Randi LeClair is an enrolled member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma. She graduated from Oklahoma State University with a BA in English (Creative Writing) and is currently a graduate student in the University of Oklahoma’s Master of Professional Writing program. Recently, Randi and her husband, Todd, signed an option agreement for the screen adaptation of Todd’s book, "60 Feet Six Inches and Other Distances from Home: The (Baseball) Life of Mose YellowHorse," which follows the story of Pittsburg Pirates pitcher Mose YellowHorse, the first full-blood American Indian in the major leagues.
In addition to screenwriting, Randi also engages her love of literary fiction and is currently working on a collection of short stories. As well, she also serves as co-editor for "Out of the Stars: An Anthology of Pawnee Writing, Stories, and Art." Her dream is to help bring Native Cinema to the mainstream. She is an alumna of the 2010 Sundance Institute Native Filmmakers Lab.
- 7/13/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Crystal Bears awarded to 52 Tuesdays in the Generation 14plus and Killa in the Generation Kplus sections.
Australian film 52 Tuesdays has picked up the Crystal Bear for Best Film in the Generation 14plus strand of the Berlin International Film Festival.
The feature, directed by Sophie Hyde, centres on 16 year-old Billie’s reluctant path to independence, which is accelerated when her mother reveals plans to gender transition and their time together becomes limited to Tuesday afternoons.
The film, which debuted at the Adelaide Film Festival last October and played at Sundance last month, was described by the jury as “both suprising and touching”.
A statement from the jury added: “The moving story is presented in a fascinating structure and convinces with strong characters, humour, clever ideas and sensitivity.”
The youth jury comprised Simon Kalmbach, Luca Kokol, Karla Laitko, Leonie Mo Munder, Paula Noack, Nicola Scholz and Florian Stündel.
A special mention was given to Spanish director Gabri Velázquez’s ärtico...
Australian film 52 Tuesdays has picked up the Crystal Bear for Best Film in the Generation 14plus strand of the Berlin International Film Festival.
The feature, directed by Sophie Hyde, centres on 16 year-old Billie’s reluctant path to independence, which is accelerated when her mother reveals plans to gender transition and their time together becomes limited to Tuesday afternoons.
The film, which debuted at the Adelaide Film Festival last October and played at Sundance last month, was described by the jury as “both suprising and touching”.
A statement from the jury added: “The moving story is presented in a fascinating structure and convinces with strong characters, humour, clever ideas and sensitivity.”
The youth jury comprised Simon Kalmbach, Luca Kokol, Karla Laitko, Leonie Mo Munder, Paula Noack, Nicola Scholz and Florian Stündel.
A special mention was given to Spanish director Gabri Velázquez’s ärtico...
- 2/15/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Crystal Bears awarded in the Generation 14plus and Generation Kplus sections.
Australian film 52 Tuesdays has picked up the Crystal Bear for Best Film in the Generation 14plus strand of the Berlin International Film Festival.
The feature, directed by Sophie Hyde, centres on 16 year-old Billie’s reluctant path to independence, which is accelerated when her mother reveals plans to gender transition and their time together becomes limited to Tuesday afternoons.
The film, which debuted at the Adelaide Film Festival last October and played at Sundance last month, was described by the jury as “both suprising and touching”.
A statement from the jury added: “The moving story is presented in a fascinating structure and convinces with strong characters, humour, clever ideas and sensitivity.”
The youth jury comprised Simon Kalmbach, Luca Kokol, Karla Laitko, Leonie Mo Munder, Paula Noack, Nicola Scholz and Florian Stündel.
A special mention was given to Spanish director Gabri Velázquez’s ärtico.
The Crystal...
Australian film 52 Tuesdays has picked up the Crystal Bear for Best Film in the Generation 14plus strand of the Berlin International Film Festival.
The feature, directed by Sophie Hyde, centres on 16 year-old Billie’s reluctant path to independence, which is accelerated when her mother reveals plans to gender transition and their time together becomes limited to Tuesday afternoons.
The film, which debuted at the Adelaide Film Festival last October and played at Sundance last month, was described by the jury as “both suprising and touching”.
A statement from the jury added: “The moving story is presented in a fascinating structure and convinces with strong characters, humour, clever ideas and sensitivity.”
The youth jury comprised Simon Kalmbach, Luca Kokol, Karla Laitko, Leonie Mo Munder, Paula Noack, Nicola Scholz and Florian Stündel.
A special mention was given to Spanish director Gabri Velázquez’s ärtico.
The Crystal...
- 2/14/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
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