Notizie

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...

Ben Lear, the son of TV pioneer Norman Lear, initially wanted to make a scripted movie that dealt with prison.

But as part of his research, he got to know some jailed juveniles in the Los Angeles area and found their stories incredibly compelling. The scripted idea was scrapped in favor of a documentary.

“I remember being nervous and not knowing what to expect, and being immediately put at ease when I met all of them,” Lear, 28, says of his first meeting with the minors. “They were so young and ‘teenagery’ in every way, I just felt an immediate affinity.

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

– Exclusive: The 12th Annual Sunscreen Film Festival announced its official selections for the 2017 event featuring films with Alec Baldwin, Dylan McDermott, John Cleese, Daphne Zuniga and more. Opening night will feature Michael Mailer’s newest film, “Blind,” a romantic-drama, starring Alec Baldwin, Demi Moore and Dylan McDermott. Closing night will wrap up the festival with “Albion: The Enchanted Stallion,” a family fantasy adventure, starring John Cleese, Debra Messing, Jennifer Morrison and Stephen Dorff.

Retrospective Screenings will include Daphne Zuniga appearance at the festival honoring the 30th anniversary of “Spaceballs.” Also in this category will be “The Greatest Show on Earth,” from 1952 directed by Cecile B. DeMille, which won the Oscar for Best Pictures and Best Writing in 1953. The screening will honor the closing of the Ringling Bros.

The iconic filmmaker will receive the Writers Guild Of America, West’s 2017 Laurel Award for screenwriting achievement in recognition of his body of work.

Stone, whose latest film Snowden has earned plaudits, will be honoured at the Guild’s awards show in Beverly Hills on February 19.

“Oliver Stone may be our most committed screenwriter, using an unparalleled sense of conflict and drama to define the past half century,” said Wgaw president Howard A. Rodman. “Stone’s Vietnam trilogy – Platoon, Born On The Fourth Of July, Heaven & Earth– not only illuminated the war, but made us face its consequences.

“His unofficial and extraordinary history of the 1960s and 1970s – from JFK and The Doors through Nixon and Wall Street – wove a coherent narrative from incoherent facts. His dialogue is always memorable: think of Gordon Gekko’s ‘greed is good,’ or Tony Manero’s 182 ‘fucks’ in Scarface.

“But even Stone’s most amoral characters are, in the end...

The documentary They Call Us Monsters explores the juvenile justice system and the young men who become entangled in it.

Directed by Ben Lear, the son of Norman Lear, the doc has been acquired by Maston Films and The Orchard for release, and will open in theaters in January 2017.

Here, The Hollywood Reporter exclusively debuts a new trailer for the film, which received critical acclaim on the festival circuit. THR's review stated: "Among the many topical documentaries to make the festival circuit recently, one of the most powerful and eye-opening is They Call Us Monsters, which raises profound questions...