News

A juicy new documentary about the life and public battles of late real estate mogul Leona Helmsley is currently in production, Variety has learned exclusively. The film will contain never-before-heard tapes of Helmsley and her archrival Donald Trump, as well as “smoking gun” evidence that will question the tax evasion case brought on her by Rudy Giuliani in 1988.

Helmsley was an icon of the “greed is good” era, an owner of luxury hotels and condominiums who left behind a 5 billion estate. Branded the “Queen of Mean” by the New York tabloids for her acid tongue and regal air, she was a bitter rival of Trump — who once called her “a disgrace to the industry and a disgrace to humanity in general.” Of Trump, Helmsley once reportedly said: “I wouldn’t trust him if his tongue was notarized.”

Trump notoriously tried to snatch the crown jewel of Helmsley’s property portfolio,...

Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios has acquired the pilot of gritty drama Up North for global distribution on its streaming services, including TheGrio and Local Now. The company will finance and distribute eight episodes of the series to launch the first season.

Written by Emil Pinnock and Ian Robertson, the Up North pilot digs into the brutal reality of the New York prison system, as an innocent teenager gets arrested for a crime he did not commit. Up North looks at incarceration and inner-city life from various points of view, taking a deep look at New York’s flawed and corrupt prison system and the violent life that feeds it. The series features an ensemble cast of Eugene Clark, Gabriel Ellis, Robert Lewis, Ian Duff and Kris Lofton.

Pinnock and Robertson will continue to write and executive produce the series, filmed by Dp Eric Branco, along with Keith Patterson and Barry Tatelman.

All About Ann: Governor Richards of the Lone Star State

Directed by Keith Patterson and Phillip Schopper

USA, 2014

The unapologetically liberal All About Ann: Governor Richards of the Lone Star State profiles a species that’s harder to find in the real world today than fairies, unicorns, and vampires combined—the truly powerful Democratic politician in Texas. Even stranger than Richards’s ascent to her state’s governorship—and damn if it isn’t as strange as hell—is the fact that it wasn’t exactly ancient history.

Richards’s political career began in the early 1980s when she was elected State Treasurer and becomes the first female official elected to Texas state office in 50 years. Her goal: open the Treasurer’s office up to women and minorities. The result: lots and lots of money coming into the state of Texas.

A woman without fear and (perhaps more importantly) a natural comedienne,...

Phillip Schopper began making films as a child with his parents' 8mm camera. He edited his first feature-length documentary, the much acclaimed music film "Heartworn Highways," in 1976. Through the years he has worked in production or post production on many feature films including "Prince of the City," "Resurrection," "Nine to Five," "Reds," and "Ishtar." He's bringing "All About Ann: Governor Richards of the Lone Star State" to Tribeca this year.  Keith Patterson runs Filmbank Entertainment, a full-service production company in New York City. He is a movie director, writer, and producer, born and raised in NYC. He told Indiewire he is "excited to premiere at Tribeca Film Festival." Tell us about yourself: Schopper: I've been an editor on projects for PBS, Bravo and A&E. At ABC I was a senior editor for the DuPont Award winning series "Hopkins 24/7" as well as the Emmy nominated "NYPD 24/7." More recently I've edited...

The Tribeca Film Festival began as a way for New York to rebuild culturally after the World Trade Center attacks in 2001. For the first time since then, the area around Ground Zero is dominated by a sparkly, newly finished Freedom Tower, which represents so much more than the city’s resilience and recovery. The Tribeca festival played a small, but not insignificant, role in that recovery, inviting artists and film lovers to the city and reassuring New Yorkers that life can be beautiful even in the darkest of days.

After more than a decade of growth, Tribeca is also entering...

The 13th Tribeca Film Festival has announced its complete lineup for next month’s New York celebration, which runs April 16-27. Culled from more than 6,000 submissions, Tribeca 2014 includes 55 world premieres, 37 first-time filmmakers, and 22 female directors. Half the slate had been announced on Tuesday, with Spotlight, Midnight, and Storyscapes films unveiled today, as well as special screenings. “Spotlight and special screenings are an especially dynamic aspect of this year’s program, both in range of styles and stories,” said Genna Terranova, Tribeca’s director of programming. “Many films feature real-life personalities who’ve accomplished extraordinary feats, while in other films we...

Tribeca Film Festival 2014 world premieres include Every Secret Thing, Miss Meadows and Zombeavers.

Spotlight features 31 films comprising 22 narratives and nine documentaries, of which 20 receive world premieres. The Midnight section will open with Preservation and includes the Efm buzz title Zombeavers.

Special Screenings include 6, a work-in-progress documentary by The Cove director Louie Psihoyos. The transmedia Storyscapes line-up returns for the second year. As previously announced, the festival will open on April 16 with the Nas documentary Time Is Illmatic and runs through April 27.

“Spotlight and Special screenings are an especially dynamic aspect of this year’s programme, both in range of styles and stories,” said director of programming Genna Terranova, “Many films feature real-life personalities who’ve accomplished extraordinary feats, while in other films we see personal relationships at pivotal moments of transition. We look forward to sharing these engaging stories with audiences.”

“Whether they made us laugh, squirm, or plain scared the heck out of us, each of the...

Tribeca Film Festival 2014 world premieres include Every Secret Thing, Miss Meadows and Zombeavers.

Spotlight features 31 films comprising 22 narratives and nine documentaries, of which 20 receive world premieres. The Midnight section will open with Preservation and includes the Efm buzz title Zombeavers.

Special Screenings include 6, a work-in-progress documentary by The Cove director Louie Psihoyos. The transmedia Storyscapes line-up returns for the second year. As previously announced, the festival will open on April 16 with the Nas documentary Time Is Illmatic and runs through April 27.

“Spotlight and Special screenings are an especially dynamic aspect of this year’s programme, both in range of styles and stories,” said director of programming Genna Terranova, “Many films feature real-life personalities who’ve accomplished extraordinary feats, while in other films we see personal relationships at pivotal moments of transition. We look forward to sharing these engaging stories with audiences.”

“Whether they made us laugh, squirm, or plain scared the heck out of us, each of the...

One of my favorite documentaries this year, "Searching for Sugar Man," received top honors at the 2012 Ida Documentary Awards winning the Best Feature prize. The documentary about the search for the elusive musician, Rodriguez, is truly a brilliant film illuminating failed dreams and eventual redemption.

Here's the complete winners list of the 2012 Ida Documentary Awards:

Career Achievement Award

Arnold Shapiro

Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award

David France

Pioneer Award

Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program And Fund

Best Feature Award

Searching For Sugar Man

Director/Producer/Writer: Malik Bendjelloul

Producer: Simon Chinn

Executive Producer: John Battsek

Red Box Films, Sony Pictures Classics

Best Short Award

Saving Face

Director: Daniel Junge, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

Producers: David Coombe, Daniel Junge, Alison Greenberg, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Sabiha Sumar

Co-Producers: Aaron Kopp, Fazeelat Aslam

Senior Producer: Lisa Heller (HBO)

Executive Producer: Sheila Nevins (HBO)

HBO Documentary Films, Milkhaus, LLC, and JungeFilm, LLC

Best Limited Series Award...

Six years after her death, filmmakers Jack Lofton and Keith Patterson team up to portray the most memorable woman in Texas politics in their directorial debut, Ann Richards' Texas. The documentary reminds me of a happier time when women's rights were championed by formidable progressive supporters in the Lone Star State. The movie screened at Aff after its world premiere at the 2012 AFI SilverDocs Festival, where it won the WGA Documentary Screenplay Award.

Former Texas Governor Richards was an outspoken woman who went from housewife and teacher to a politician who led the state in 1990. It was her keynote speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention in support of presidential candidate Michael Dukakis that moved her into the spotlight and the Governor's Mansion -- a formidable accomplishment for a Democrat in a red state, not to mention for a woman who wasn't a "good old boy" millionaire like her Republican opponent,...

Jack Lofton and Keith Patterson's documentary hearkens back to happier times (at least for liberals), the years before George W. Bush entered the political spotlight. I am talking about those glory days when Texas had one of the most liberal governors in the United States, a female governor to boot. Considering where Texas politics stand today (in the far right corner), it seems utterly unfathomable that Ann Richards was the governor of Texas less than twenty years ago. Ann Richards' Texas begins like a Cliff Notes' version of Richards' personal history; but once it arrives at the 1988 Democratic National Convention, where Richards delivered the keynote speech for presidential nominee Michael S. Dukakis, Lofton and Patterson's documentary begins to hunker down into the nitty gritty. Richards' keynote speech was extremely critical of the Reagan Administration and then-Vice President George H. W. Bush; it not only set the tone for her...

The full lineup for Austin Film Festival 2012 has now been released. Among the big-budget films, Dustin Hoffman's directiorial debut, indie movies and documentaries are flicks with ties to Austin (and/or Texas in general). Among the better-known movies, The Sessions has a slight local connection in one of its stars -- former (but not forgotten) Austinite John Hawkes.

Here are some of the feature-length films made in Austin or with Austin filmmakers. If we missed anything, please let us know. Also, if you're one of the filmmakers on this list, please drop us a line, because we'd love to cover your movie.

Ann Richards' Texas, a documentary by Houstonians Jack Lofton and Keith Patterson, is among the Marquee Screenings at the fest. This one looks like a must-see for those of us interested in Texas politics and/or our former state governor (trailer below).  [official site]

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Here's the latest in Austin and Texas film news.

Austin was well represented in the awards at the Silverdocs Documentary Film Festival in Silver Springs, Maryland this week. The Sterling Award for best U.S. feature doc went to Only the Young, a film about teenagers in an economically troubled California suburb, co-directed by Jason Tippet and Austin native Elizabeth Mims. (Her dad, Steve Mims, clued us in on the award.) The film Ann Richards' Texas won the WGA Documentary Screenplay Award -- we don't have to tell you how that one ties into Austin, although filmmakers Jack Lofton and Keith Patterson are from Houston. And last night, the Silverdocs Audience Awards were announced, one of which went to Andrew Garrison's documentary Trash Dance, about a unique Austin event involving the Department of Solid Waste Services (SXSW interview, Mike's review).Calling all activist filmmakers: The submission deadline for the Fourth Annual Lights.

Here's the latest in Austin and Texas film news.

A new local documentary about rollerderby will premiere at Edinburgh International Film Festival later this month. Leave It on the Track, about two competing Txrd teams, is directed by Benjamin Pascoe and produced by filmmaker/Austin Film Society instructor/derby team manager Jonny Stranger. Check out the trailer at the end of this article, and read Elizabeth's interview with Stranger about his Slacker 2011 segment.Houston-based filmmakers Keith Patterson's and Jack Lofton's documentary Ann Richards' Texas, about the life of the former Texas governor, will have its world premiere June 21 at the AFI Silverdocs festival in Washington, D.C. The movie includes interviews with Bill Clinton, Dolly Parton and Dan Rather.The award-winning indie film Strings can now be purchased or rented exclusively on iTunes through a digital distribution deal with The Orchard, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The Austin-shot thriller,...

Julie Taymor, Diablo Cody and Rachael Horovitz will receive awards at the 2012 Athena Film Festival, which will run February 9-12 at the Barnard College campus in Manhattan. The festival, now in its second year, has also announced the bulk of its film program, which will include a look at Keith Patterson and Jack Lofton's documentary work in progress, "Ann Richards' Texas." The Athena's awards, which "honor extraordinary women for their leadership and creative accomplishments," will also inaugurate the Laura Ziskin Lifetime Achievement Award. This will be presented to "a trailblazer in the film industry who sets an exemplary standard for other women to emulate." Created in the memory of the late producer, the first award will be accepted on Ziskin's behalf by her daughter, Julia Barry. Other awards will go to Dee Rees and Nekisa Cooper ("Pariah") Dana Fox ("What Happens in Vegas," "Couples...