News

Conic has acquired UK-Ireland distribution rights to Margy Kinmonth’s documentary War Paint – Women At War.

The distributor acquired the film from producers Foxtrot Films, and will release it in UK-Ireland cinemas on Friday, March 28.

It is a Sky Original documentary that will also play on the Sky Arts channel later in 2025.

War Paint – Women At War puts the spotlight on female war artists who champion women’s perspective on conflict, asking the question ‘when it’s life or death, what do women see that men don’t?’.

It features artists including Rachel Whiteread, Zhanna Kadyrova, Maggi Hambling, Assil Diab,...

Conic has acquired UK-Ireland distribution rights to Margy Kinmouth’s documentary War Paint – Women At War.

The distributor acquired the film from producers Foxtrot Films, and will release it in UK-Ireland cinemas on Friday, March 28.

It is a Sky Original documentary that will also play on the Sky Arts channel later in 2025.

War Pain – Women At War puts the spotlight on female war artists who champion women’s perspective on conflict, asking the question ‘when it’s life or death, what do women see that men don’t?’.

It features artists including Rachel Whiteread, Zhanna Kadyrova, Maggi Hambling, Assil Diab,...

David Byrne, Iggy Pop and Michael Stipe are among the musicians and artists participating in a new digital art project from artist Maurizio Cattelan called Bedtime Stories.

Bedtime Stories launched via the New Museum and, per a statement, Cattelan envisioned the project “as a way of staying together during these days of isolation.” Each participant was asked to share a selection from their favorite book, but while some followed the prompt exactly, others read their own writing or even shared impromptu performances.

For instance, Iggy Pop helped kick off the...

Filmmakers Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts’ “For Sama” (PBS) took top honors at the 35th Annual IDA Documentary Awards at the Paramount Theatre Saturday night. The harrowing and intimate portrait of a young couple who continued to live in Aleppo with their new baby while under intense fire from government troops took home Best Feature. a

Al-Kateab also accepted the coveted Courage Under Fire award, given to someone who demonstrates extraordinary courage in pursuit of the truth. The Channel 4 film has already notched documentary wins from the European Film Awards, the British Independent Film Awards, and Cannes, as well as a PGA nomination.

Another Syrian film, “The Cave” (NatGeo) took home Best Writing for Alisar Hasan and Feras Fayyad. Dan Reed’s searing Michael Jackson exposé “Leaving Neverland” scored Best Multi-Part Documentary; HBO did not submit the Sundance premiere for the Oscars.

Other winners include Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert,...

Two of the world’s most influential women — pioneering primatologist Jane Goodall and lauded writer Joan Didion — are both on the receiving end of insightful new documentaries this year, both of which are hitting screens in the coming weeks. Brett Morgen’s “Jane” (which opened just last week to deservedly rave reviews) tracks the early years of Goodall’s work in Tanzania’s Gombe Stream National Park, combining both new interviews with the still-trailblazing scientist and early footage lensed by her former husband Hugo van Lawick (a celebrated animal photographer) to tell a full-bodied story about Goddall’s amazing ethic and her tremendous empathy for the animals she’s made the center of her life.

This week, Griffin Dunne’s look at Didion’s life, “Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold,” will arrive on Netflix, following her own early years and her current state as a literary icon. Both...

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (Vvmf) is commemorating the 35th anniversary of The Wall in 2017 and an esteemed group of Americans, led by The Honorable Chuck Hagel, 24th Secretary of Defense and Vietnam veteran, have come together to form the 35th Anniversary of The Wall committee to help commemorate this milestone.

Vvmf will host a series of events in Washington, D.C. in the week leading up to Veterans Day in November to honor and remember the service and sacrifice of those who served in Vietnam and their families.

“The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is the perfect tribute and a fitting reminder of that divisive war and its enormous human cost to our country,” said American entrepreneur, philanthropist and Vietnam veteran Bob Parsons. “Many of us who served in Vietnam and made it back received either a rude or no reception. Be that as it may, our 58,000 plus brothers and sisters...

President Barack Obama's time in the White House is coming to an end, but before he says goodbye and welcomes in President-elect Donald Trump, the 55-year-old politician is honoring those who he believes have helped push America forward and inspired millions around the world one last time.

On Tuesday, Potus presented 21 actors, musicians, athletes and innovators with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in the White House's East Room.

"Everybody on this stage has touched me in a very powerful, very personal way,” Obama said in his opening speech. "These are folks who have helped make me who I am."

Among the honorees were Ellen DeGeneres, who couldn't hold back her tears as she accepted her prestigious medal.

"In a career spanning three decades, Ellen DeGeneres has lifted our spirits and brought joy to...

When veteran TV star Ellen DeGeneres gets the nation’s highest civilian honor later this month, she’ll be in great company.

DeGeneres, 58, is one of 21 big names in the 2016 class of Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients, the White House announced in a press release on Wednesday.

Other honorees include Oscar winners Tom Hanks, Robert Redford and Robert De Niro, actress Cicely Tyson, sports icons Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels and music legends Bruce Springsteen and Diana Ross.

The Medal of Freedom is awarded to individuals who have made “especially meritorious contributions to the...

Keep up with the always-hopping film festival world with our weekly Film Festival Roundup column.

– newportFILM announced today an impressive line up of world-class documentaries for their annual summer series newportFILM Outdoors.

The sunset screenings kick off on June 30 and run through September 1, with weekly Thursday night events that are accompanied by filmmaker conversations, food vendors and pre-film live music. This marks the series’ seventh summer season of hosting screenings at various outdoor picturesque locations, often thoughtfully paired with their film, around Newport, Ri.

Opening night will feature a special showing of “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You” in the heart of downtown Newport in the Maya Lin designed Queen Anne Square. The program will continue throughout the season with a notable collection of documentaries including the following highlights: “The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma & The Silk Road Ensemble,” “Life, Animated,” “Betting on Zero,” “Jim: The James Foley Story,...

By Anjelica Oswald

Managing Editor

Directed by Rory Kennedy, Last Days in Vietnam focuses on the final weeks of the Vietnam War in April 1975 and the Americans who tried to rescue as many South Vietnamese refugees that they could — against White House orders — as the North Vietnamese Army approached Saigon. Kennedy has never been nominated for an Oscar, but her 2012 documentary Ethel, about Ethel Kennedy (Rory’s mother), was nominated for five Emmys. Last Days in Vietnam, which premiered at Sundance, could garner Kennedy her first Oscar nom.

Historically, Vietnam documentaries have done well in the documentary category at the Oscars, and that may be due to many Academy members having come of age during the war. Here are 11 Vietnam documentaries that have been nominated for best documentary (in chronological order):

The Anderson Platoon

Filmed in 1966 by Pierre Schoendoerffer, a war reporter and cameraman, the film follows a 33-man...

On Friday evening at New York's New Museum, "Mad Men" creator and executive producer Matthew Weiner was featured as this year's Visionary in the fifth annual installment of The Stuart Regen Visionaries Series. (The award, designed to honor leading contributors to the international cultural community, has previously honored artists like choreographer Bill T. Jones, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, chef and author Alice Waters, and artist and architect Maya Lin.) The event featured Weiner in conversation with author A.M. Homes in front of a full house at the New Museum's downstairs theater. Their exchange was friendly and informal as Homes moderated the conversation before opening it up to questions. Weiner deliberately refrained from saying anything about the upcoming seventh and final season of "Mad Men," which AMC recently announced would be split into two seven-episodes segments to premiere in 2014 and 2015. Regardless of the final episodes' airdates, he'll have completed his work.

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists (Awfj), a membership organization of leading women film journalists and critics from across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, announced seven nominees for a special Eda award, created to celebrate Pov’s 25th anniversary. The winner will be announced at Pov’s 26th-season launch party at its headquarters in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Thursday, June 6, 2013.

With this Eda award, the Awfj will honor the best female-directed film from the curated program MoMA Selects: Pov, a 25th Anniversary Retrospective, presented at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in February and March of 2013. A jury of five Awfj members selected the nominees.

The nominees are Better This World (directors: Kelly Duane de la Vega, Katie Galloway), Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter(director: Deborah Hoffmann), Dark Circle (directors: Judy Irving, Christopher Beaver), The Education of Shelby Knox (directors:Marion Lipschutz, Rose Rosenblatt), Granito:...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is again teaming with MoMA to present "Oscar's Docs, 1955-2002: American Stories" from February 2-14 in New York City. This annual collaboration highlights the Oscar-winning feature and short documentaries that explore culture and politics of the U.S. All prints are from the Academy's collection, and various filmmakers will be in person for the screenings. MoMA is located at 11 West 53rd Street. For ticket information, visit MoMA.org. Here's the schedule: Sat., Feb. 2, 2 p.m. American Dream (1990) Barbara Kopple. This stirring film depicts the effects of a mid-1980s strike by the workers of a Hormel meatpacking plant in Austin, Minnesota. 98 min. Sat., Feb. 2, 8 p.m. Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision (1994) Freida Lee Mock. A profile of Maya Lin, the young artist who created the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington and other politically motivated artistic creations. 105...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) will present “Oscar’s Docs, 1955–2002: American Stories” from February 2 through February 14 at MoMA in New York City. This annual collaboration highlights Oscar®–winning and nominated short and feature-length documentary films that explore the history, culture and politics of the United States. All prints are from the Academy Film Archive’s collection. The filmmakers will be present at several screenings (visit MoMA.org for details).

The schedule is as follows:

Sat., Feb. 2, 2 p.m.

American Dream (1990)

Barbara Kopple. This stirring film depicts the effects of a mid-1980s strike by the workers of a Hormel meatpacking plant in Austin, Minnesota. 98 min.

Sat., Feb. 2, 8 p.m.

Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision (1994)

Freida Lee Mock. A profile of Maya Lin, the young artist who created the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington and other politically motivated artistic creations.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) will present “Oscar’s Docs, 1955–2002: American Stories” from February 2 through February 14 at MoMA in New York City. This annual collaboration highlights Oscar®–winning and nominated short and feature-length documentary films that explore the history, culture and politics of the United States. All prints are from the Academy Film Archive’s collection. The filmmakers will be present at several screenings (visit MoMA.org for details). The schedule is as follows: Sat., Feb. 2, 2 p.m. American Dream (1990) Barbara Kopple. This stirring film depicts the effects of a mid-1980s strike by the workers of a Hormel meatpacking plant in Austin, Minnesota. 98 min. Sat., Feb. 2, 8 p.m. Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision (1994) Freida Lee Mock. A profile of Maya Lin, the young artist who created the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington and other politically motivated artistic creations.