Notizie

Jairus McLeary in the Soho House screening room on The Work: "It's very masculine. That's why Amy Foote, our editor, and Alice Henty, the producer, they were the first women to see this footage." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Rebecca Miller's Arthur Miller: Writer; Doug Nichol's California Typewriter; Andrew Rossi on Okwui Okpokwasili's Bronx Gothic; Elvira Lind's Bobbi Jene; Michael Almereyda's Escapes on Hampton Fancher; Brett Morgen's Jane on Jane Goodall; Ceyda Torun's KEDi; Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum's Letters From Baghdad with Tilda Swinton voicing Getrude Bell; Griffin Dunne's Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold; Agnès Varda and Jr's Faces Places; Neasa Ní Chianáin and David Rane's School Life; Ferne Pearlstein's The Last Laugh; Lara Stolman's Swim Team; Kirk Simon's The Pulitzer At 100, and Josh Koury and Myles Kane's Voyeur on Gay Talese...

One hundred seventy features have been submitted for consideration in the Documentary Feature category for the 90th Academy Awards. That’s 25 more than 2016. Assuming they all book their qualifying runs in New York and Los Angeles, the members of the documentary branch have just a few more weeks to see as many films as possible and file their votes for the shortlist of 15 to be announced in December. They’re each supposed to watch an assigned list of about 20 films, plus as many more as they can.

Read More:2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Documentary Feature

It’s possible for documentaries to also vie for Best Picture, although it is rare. Among this year’s most lauded features are “City of Ghosts,” “Faces Places,” “Jane,” “Kedi” and “One of Us.”

The submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are:

“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”

“Aida’s Secrets”

“Al Di Qua”

“All the Rage...

One hundred seventy features have been submitted for consideration in the Documentary Feature category for the 90th Academy Awards. That’s 25 more than 2016. Assuming they all book their qualifying runs in New York and Los Angeles, the members of the documentary branch have just a few more weeks to see as many films as possible and file their votes for the shortlist of 15 to be announced in December. They’re each supposed to watch an assigned list of about 20 films, plus as many more as they can.

Read More:2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Documentary Feature

It’s possible for documentaries to also vie for Best Picture, although it is rare. Among this year’s most lauded features are “City of Ghosts,” “Faces Places,” “Jane,” “Kedi” and “One of Us.”

The submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are:

“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”

“Aida’s Secrets”

“Al Di Qua”

“All the Rage...

Swim Team screens Thursday, August 24th at 7:30pm at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood). The screening is Free and Co-sponsored by Easterseals Midwest. Donations accepted.

Demonstrating the power of inclusion to transcend disability, Lara Stolman’s triumphant film Swim Team profiles members of the Jersey Hammerheads, a competitive swim team made up of a diverse group of teens on the autism spectrum, based in the state with the highest rate of autism in the country. Parents of a boy on the autism spectrum formed the team, recruited other teens on the spectrum and trained them with high expectations and zero pity. Swim Team chronicles the extraordinary rise of three diverse young athletes, capturing a moving quest for inclusion, independence and a life that feels winning. Through training and competition, star athletes Mikey, Robbie and Kelvin gain self-confidence and social skills that serve them both in and out of the pool.

Swim Team Review Swim Team (2016) Film Review, a movie directed by Lara Stolman, and starring Mikey McQuay Jr., Robert Justino, Kelvin Truong, Mike McQuay, Maria McQuay, Rosa Justino, Patty Huang, Steve Jobin, Hayden Schumann, Casey Burns, Vincent Chen, Wesley Flores, Christian Gutierrez, Matthew Liu, and Aaron Lucena. It’s been almost 30 [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: Swim Team (2016): Intimate Interviews And Frank Approach Propel Autism Documentary To Victory...

Superheroes and ghosts are among what's headed to theaters this weekend with Spider-Man: Homecoming and A Ghost Story. Also opening this weekend are documentaries City of Ghosts and Swim Team. Read on to find out what The Hollywood Reporter's critics are saying about the weekend's new offerings.

Spider-Man: Homecoming

Tom Holland stars as a young Spidey, still in high school, in Jon Watts' reboot of the franchise. Zendaya, Donald Glover, Jon Favreau and Marisa Tomei round out the first Spider-Man film that's a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with appearances by Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man...

Most box office analysts were predicting that the highly-anticipated Despicable Me sequel, Despicable Me 3, would have no trouble running away with the box office this weekend. While that prediction ultimately came true, the sequel came in less than expected, opening with $75.4 million, easily beating fellow newcomers Baby Driver, which opened on Wednesday, June 28, and the original comedy The House starring Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler. While Despicable Me 3 didn't open with a franchise low, it did mark a significant drop from the last few entries in the franchise.

Box Office Mojo reports that, while Despicable Me 3 may have opened less than expected, it did break a box office record that has stood for the past seven years. Despicable Me 3 opened in a record-breaking 4,529 theaters, breaking the record previously set by 2010's The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, which opened in 4,468 theaters on the exact same date as Despicable Me 3 seven years ago,...

Since it had no direct competition in wide release last weekend, it was no surprise that Transformers: The Last Knight came away with a box office win, although it was much less than expected. The action-packed sequel opened with $44.6 million, even down slightly from the $45.3 million estimate, which was still the worst opening in franchise history, far below the $70.5 million the franchise kicked off with in the 2007 movie Transformers, although the movie is still performing strong overseas. This weekend, it will face three newcomers, Universal's animated sequel Despicable Me 3, New Line Cinema's comedy The House and Sony's Baby Driver, which opens in theaters tomorrow, June 28. Despicable Me 3 should have no trouble taking the top spot with a projected $90.2 million.

Box Office Mojo reports that Despicable Me 3 will open in more than 4,350 theaters, and while that isn't an exact figure yet, it should be higher than the...

Keep up with the always-hopping film festival world with our weekly Film Festival Roundup column. Check out last week’s Roundup right here.

Lineup Announcements

– The Human Rights Watch Film Festival will be presented June 9 – 18, with 21 topical and provocative feature documentaries and panel discussions that showcase courageous resilience in challenging times. In an era of global advances by far-right forces into the political mainstream, assaults on the free press, and the rise of “citizen journalism,” festival organizers hope that the films in this year’s program can serve as inspiration and motivation for the audience, from seasoned activists to those searching for a role in local and global movements.

Now in its 28th edition, the Human Rights Watch Film Festival is co-presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and IFC Center. All screenings will be followed by in-depth discussions with filmmakers, film subjects, Human Rights Watch researchers, and special guests.

New Jersey, it turns out, has the highest autism rate in the country, with one in 26 boys on the spectrum. Three of them are the engaging central characters in Swim Team, an eye-opening look at one couple’s response to the dearth of public services, therapies and programs for their son.

Lara Stolman’s thoughtful film follows the first season of the Special Olympics team that Maria and Mike McQuay formed, tracking the athletes’ triumphs and challenges both in and out of the pool. As autism diagnoses continue to rise, the doc’s personal portraits of the work required to forge an...

Swim Team director Lara Stolman with Anne-Katrin Titze: "I wanted to be able to go deep in this film." Photo: Monica Delamater

On the closing night of Doc NYC, an exceptional documentary on what it means to come together for a common goal under extraordinary circumstances will be shown. Swim Team captures individual members of the Jersey Hammerheads, co-founded by Mike and Maria McQuay, as they form a bond in and out of the water while training in the hope of qualifying for the Special Olympics.

Jersey Hammerheads - Maria McQuay guides Kelvin with Robbie, Mike and Hayden

Shot by Laela Kilbourn (Morgan Neville's Oscar-winning 20 Feet From Stardom), edited by co-producer Ann Collins (Josh Aronson's Oscar-nominated Sound And Fury) with a score by Mark Suozzo (Whit Stillman's Damsels In Distress, The Last Days Of Disco, Barcelona, Metropolitan), produced by Shanna Belott, Lara Stolman has assembled an impressive...

In a world that constantly relegates them to the sidelines, three teenage swimmers dare to take center stage to prove how sports can transcend disability. In the documentary “Swim Team,” we follow three teenage boys on the autism spectrum as they inspire the community around them while competing for greatness.

The debut documentary feature from Lara Stolman, the film follows three swimmers from the New Jersey Hammerheads, a swim team that includes teenagers on the autism spectrum, as they persevere beyond expectations while they train for both state and the national Special Olympics. Surrounding all of this are the athletes’ own coming-of-age stories, as they learn to navigate adolescence and begin to build a future of their own.

The film won the award for Best Sports Documentary at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival in October, and it will have its New York premiere at the Doc NYC Festival on...

Doc NYC Artistic Director Thom Powers at the IFC Center Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

This year's Doc NYC will open with Valentino: The Last Emperor director Matt Tyrnauer's latest, Citizen Jane: Battle For The City, and close with John Scheinfeld's Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary. Thom Powers and I covered a wide range of films including Dawn Porter's Trapped, Kirsten Johnson's Cameraperson, Werner Herzog's Into The Inferno, Roger Ross Williams's Life, Animated, Ben Bowie and Geoff Luck's Naledi: A Baby Elephant's Tale, Jon Nguyen, Rick Barnes and Olivia Neergaard-Holm's David Lynch: The Art Life, Claire Simon's Le Concours, Richard Ladkani and Kief Davidson's The Ivory Game, Tom Hanks, John Mayer and Sam Shepard in Doug Nichol's California Typewriter, Lara Stolman's Swim Team, Adam Irving's Off The Rails and scads more when I sat down with the...

The premiere post-tiff destination (September 20-25th) in the film community and a major leg up for narrative and non-fiction films in development, the Independent Filmmaker Project (Ifp) announced a whopping 140 projects selected for the Project Forum at the upcoming Ifp Independent Film Week. Made up of several sections (Rbc’s Emerging Storytellers program, No Borders International Co-Production Market and Spotlight on Documentaries), we find latest updates from the likes of docu-helmers Doug Block (112 Weddings) and Lana Wilson (After Tiller), and among the narrative items we find headliners in Andrew Haigh (coming off the well received 45 Years), Sophie Barthes (Cold Souls and Madame Bovary), Terence Nance (An Oversimplification of Her Beauty), Lawrence Michael Levine (Wild Canaries), Jorge Michel Grau (We Are What We Are), Eleanor Burke and Ron Eyal (Stranger Things) and new faces in Sundance’s large family in Charles Poekel (Christmas, Again) and Olivia Newman (First Match). Here...

Here's your daily dose of an Indie film in progress -- at the end of the week, you'll have the chance to vote for your favorite. In the meantime: is this a movie you'd want to see? Tell us in the comments. Swim Team Tweetable Logline: Coming of age with autism and striving for success in and out of the pool. Elevator Pitch: "Swim Team" chronicles the overwhelming struggles and extraordinary triumphs of three young competitive swimmers with autism and their swim team that brings hope to a community. It's a film about how sports transcends disability and not giving up on your kid. Production Team: Ann Collins – Co-Producer/Editor - has been working in documentary film for over 25 years. Her editing credits include the feature documentaries "The Heart of the Matter," "Belly Talkers," "The Charcoal People" and "Sound and Fury," all of which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival before receiving theatrical and.