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Emmy-winning writer, producer and actor Lena Waithe has signed on to executive produce the documentary feature “Move Ya Body: The Birth of House” from filmmaker Elegance Bratton.

The film documents a group of friends out of the underground dance clubs on the South Side of Chicago as they turn a new sound into a global movement. In the chaos of Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park, a teenage usher named Vince Lawrence witnessed the fiery backlash against disco—a sound that defined freedom and pride. Undeterred by the hostility, Vince used his earnings to buy a synthesizer, setting in motion a journey that would change music forever.

“I am incredibly grateful for Lena’s support as we continue to bring the story and music of ‘Move Ya Body’ to audiences,” said Bratton. “Lena has an undeniable love for storytelling, music and dance which mirrored the vision we had when we...

Apocalypse in the Tropics, a powerful Portuguese-language documentary feature about the rise and impact of Christian nationalism in Brazil, with eerie echoes of its rise and impact in America, will be eligible for recognition during the 2025-2026 awards season despite having screened at numerous major film festivals in 2024, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

Indeed, the film, which was written, produced and directed by Oscar nominee Petra Costa (2019’s The Edge of Democracy), and which Netflix acquired in December 2024 after it played to strong receptions at the Venice, Telluride, New York and IDFA film festivals last fall, will receive an awards-qualifying theatrical run over the summer and will then drop on the streaming service on July 14.

Netflix also regards it as one of its top non-fiction award season priorities, along with 2025 Sundance acquisition The Perfect Neighbor.

THR’s August 2024 review of Apocalypse in the Tropics described the film as “riveting,” not...

Netflix has acquired the rights to Petra Costa’s latest documentary on Brazilian politics, “Apocalypse in the Tropics,” and will stream the film in 2025.

The film is a reunion between Netflix and Costa, who was nominated for an Oscar for the Netflix doc “The Edge of Democracy” from 2019. Netflix acquired “Apocalypse in the Tropics” after it first premiered at Venice and then played Telluride, the New York Film Festival, Camden International, IDFA, Chicago International, and the Montclair Festival. Check out IndieWire’s review out of Venice here.

“Apocalypse in the Tropics” examines how the evangelical movement in Brazil helped pave the way for the rule of Jair Bolsonaro. The film argues that allowing evangelical leaders to wield such power threatens to make Brazil a national theocracy.

Here’s the official logline via Netflix: When does a democracy end, and a theocracy begin? Apocalypse in the Tropics investigates the increasingly powerful...

Filmmaker Petra Costa is re-teaming with Netflix on her latest documentary, the award-winning Apocalypse in the Tropics.

The streamer today announced it will release Costa’s Oscar-contending film in 2025, continuing a fruitful relationship with the director. Her previous documentary, 2019’s The Edge of Democracy, was a Netflix Original and went on to earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature.

The Edge of Democracy explored how Costa’s native Brazil emerged from military dictatorship in the mid-1980s, but then more recently saw fundamental tenets of democracy threatened by right wing elements who refused to honor the peaceful transition of power (a phenomenon that would be replayed in the U.S. after the 2020 presidential election). Apocalypse in the Tropics examines another threat to Brazilian democracy – the rise of Christian nationalism (a growing issue in the United States as well).

“The genesis of this investigation on the rise of religious...

Documentary specialist Cinephil has acquired international sales rights for the feature documentary “Viktor,” which will have its world premiere in the Platform program of the Toronto Film Festival next month.

The film is directed and produced by French filmmaker and cinematographer Olivier Sarbil, who won Emmys for “Retrograde” and “Mosul,” and a Royal Television Society award for “On the President’s Orders.” Darren Aronofsky is a producer on the film.

In “Viktor,” Viktor Korotovskyi, a young Deaf man in Kharkiv, watches warily during the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A fan of samurai films and raised on stories of war, he dreams of becoming a warrior but is repeatedly denied when he tries to enlist. Eager to find purpose, Viktor embarks on a quest to find his place in the midst of a war he cannot hear.

Sarbil said: “My hope is that this film transcends language...

Prominent literary organization Pen America has canceled its annual awards ceremony, which was due to be held next week, after 28 authors chose to withdraw their books from consideration. The group has faced increasing backlash over its response to the Israel-Hamas War. Among those dropping out was debut novel finalist Rachel Eliza Griffiths, wife of former Pen president Salman Rushdie, according to the Associated Press.

Of those withdrawing are also nine out of the 10 authors nominated for the Pen/Jean Stein Book Award. The Literary Estate of Jean Stein has directed Pen America to donate the $75,000 award to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, representatives said on Monday.

The decision to cancel the awards comes in the wake of escalating upset against Pen America. A series of open letters signed by Pen nominees in recent weeks have criticized the group for allegedly choosing sides against Gaza in the war that started...

Hillary Clinton’s HiddenLight Productions has partnered with Roger Ross Williams and “The Inspection” director Elegance Bratton on a feature documentary about 1979’s Disco Demolition Night in Chicago.

Known as one of the darkest days in American music history, the incident saw 50,000 white teenagers descend on Chicago’s Comiskey Park to blow up records made by mostly Black artists.

The doc, which is called “The Night Disco Died,” is a co-production between HiddenLight and One Story Up, and will be presented by Impact Partners and Los Angeles Media Fund (Lamf).

The film will be directed and produced by Bratton, produced by Chester Algernal Gordon (“The Inspection”) and executive produced by Oscar winner and One Story Up’s Williams (“Life Animated”), Geoff Martz, and HiddenLight Productions’ Siobhan Sinnerton, Johnny Webb and Brenda Robinson.

Executive producers include: Andrew Blau, Morgan Earnest, Nina and David Fialkow, Bill and Ruth Ann Harnisch, Melony and Adam Lewis,...

Bill Maher couldn’t hide his contempt for the country hosting the Winter Olympics on his Friday Real Time.

Maher called out freestyle skier Eileen Gu, an American-born skier who chose to participate on China’s Olympic team for the Beijing games. Gu hasn’t said whether she gave up her American citizenship to do so, but plans to return to Stanford University and has reaped millions of dollars in product endorsements in China.

“She chose to represent a totalitarian police state over America,” Maher said, calling China an “authoritarian surveillance state.”

Acknowledging that the United States has its problems, Maher noted that at least the US is “a democracy based on freedom.” China has “jailed an entire ethnic minority,” and said it was a cynical dodge to overlook China’s sins in its treatment of Hong Kong freedom and its desire for a Taiwan take-back.

Maher recalled the outrage...

Exclusive: Lisa Cortés, co-director of Amazon’s voter suppression documentary All In: The Fight for Democracy, is set to direct The Empire of Ebony, a documentary that explores the rise and impact of the first black media empire Ebony magazine and its sister publication, Jet. Cortés will produce the pic with Alyse Shorland and Roger Ross Williams under his One Story Up banner. Cortés and Williams previously collaborated on the Emmy-winning doc, The Apollo.

Currently in production, the doc will focus on the Johnson Publishing Company, the first home to Ebony and Jet. It will explore the media empire’s beginnings as a small publishing company, started by John H. Johnson and Eunice W. Johnson with a five hundred dollar loan, to its incredible growth into a publishing juggernaut with an unparalleled cultural impact. The film will chart the rise of Ebony and Jet and their growth into a brand...

There was a lot going on on the Real Time panel last night, so much so that we may need another post to cover it. Besides the life and times of Sarah Palin, the eclectic crew-- Atlantic senior editor Andrew Sullivan, Center for American Progress fellow Van Jones, and The Nation's Katrina Vanden Heuvel-- had strong words on energy reform, the security crisis in the Middle East, and fighting wars.