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Hulu’s “Muslim Matchmaker” extends an invitation into a specific sphere of romantic pursuit, charting the efforts of professional matchmakers guiding Muslim Americans toward matrimony. The series, from the creative purview of Smriti Mundhra, introduces Hoda Abrahim and Yasmin Elhady, two figures who undertake the intricate task of pairing individuals.

The participants are a varied group of Muslim Americans, each endeavoring to find a partner who complements their spiritual commitments and cultural lineage within the fabric of Western society.

“Muslim Matchmaker” positions itself as an observational window onto the practices of contemporary Muslim courtship in the United States, offering a glimpse into the delicate dance of devotion and desire. The show unfolds across several American cities, each backdrop to hopeful introductions and the careful consideration of shared futures.

The Navigators of Nuance

At the helm of these romantic endeavors are Hoda Abrahim and Yasmin Elhady, whose on-screen dynamic provides a warm,...

The 20th Camden International Film Festival has wrapped the in-person portion of the event in coastal Maine with the announcement of awards in several categories, including one that will launch a filmmaker into the Oscar race.

Kix, a documentary shot in Budapest, Hungary, won Ciff’s prestigious Harrell Award. Bálint Révész and Dávid Mikulán directed the film that charts the trajectory of Sanyi from “unruly” 8-year-old to young adult in need of a second chance.

“While there are many impressive films that give us a bird’s eye view of the failure of institutions and society, [Kix] showed us what it was like from the ground,” the Harrell jury, comprised of Poh Si Teng, Bing Liu and Courtney Sexton, wrote. “It was delicate and raw, and captured humanity over time.”

The jury also awarded a special mention to Elizabeth Lo’s Mistress Dispeller, which made its U.S. premiere at Camden...

Autlook has taken on international sales, excluding the US, for Ted Passon’s documentary Patrice: The Movie, ahead of its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

Hulu has US rights to the film, which plays in TIFF Docs.

Patrice: The Movie combines observational documentary and fantastical stage-play recreations to follow Patrice Jetter who has found the love of her life, Garry Wickham. Both are disabled, and want to get married and live together, but doing either could jeopardise the government benefits they need to make ends meet. With long-time friend, director Passon, Jetter recreates scenes from her life,...

ABC News Studios, in partnership with All Ages Productions and in association with Ess Projects and Cedar Road, today announced Patrice: The Movie, a feature-length documentary from Peabody and Gotham Award-winning director Ted Passon and producers Kyla Harris (We Might Regret This), Innbo Shim (Amend), and Emily Spivack (Worn Stories).

The documentary will premiere on Monday, Sept. 30, on Hulu, following its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.

Patrice: The Movie is a documentary romantic comedy about the next frontier of marriage equality — disability. Patrice Jetter has finally found the love of her life, Garry Wickham, who is also disabled.

They want nothing more than to get married, but if they do — or even if they just move in together — the government benefits they need to survive would be cut. Despite the scrutiny they’re under, they decide to plan a commitment ceremony that could risk their entire future.

Exclusive: Patrice: The Movie, a rare nonfiction film that can truly be described as a “documentary rom-com,” will bow on Hulu on September 30, following its world premiere this Sunday at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The film directed by Ted Passon (Philly D.A.) comes from ABC News Studios, in partnership with All Ages Productions and in association with Ess Projects and Cedar Road. It documents the relationship of a disabled couple – Patrice Jetter and the love of her life, Garry Wickham – and the dilemma they face that marriage equality does not extend to people with disabilities.

Patrice and Garry “want nothing more than to get married, but if they do — or even if they just move in together — the government benefits they need to survive would be cut,” notes a release about the film. “Despite the scrutiny they’re under, they decide to plan a commitment ceremony that could risk their entire future.

Updated with juror names and winner of 2023 Points North Pitch.

Earlier: A first-time filmmaker has claimed the top prize at the 19th Annual Camden Film Festival in Maine, one of the country’s foremost all-documentary festivals.

Director Yousef Srouji earned the Harrell Award for Three Promises, a film set in the Occupied Territories. “At the start of the 2000s, the Israeli army retaliated against the second intifada in the West Bank,” notes a description of the documentary. “All the while, Suha, a mother of two young children, decides it’s time to start a film diary. Years later, her youngest son Yousef picks up the archive and discovers the difficult choices she faced then. The three promises, made and broken, evidence the strong love of a mother to her children, to her land, and to herself. The result is a reflexive act of love in a time capsule.”

‘Three Promises...

The members of the international juries that will decide the Magnolia prizes at the ongoing Shanghai Television Festival were Thursday made to do double duty as speakers in public masterclasses that were open to a generation of aspiring documentary and animation makers.

David Stephan, jury president in the animation category, along with fellow judges Spencer Ooi and Jia Fou, spoke at length about getting their starts in the business and finding inspiration.

“When I studied animation, I didn’t have a textbook available. I saw extremely limited things, so I did further research to make myself understand what I was doing in such a career,” said Jia.

“The most important thing when learning animation is to draw. You have to keep drawing. Draw any form of any subject,” said Stephan. “You also need to watch a lot of animation, communicate with others and get feedback. Then, finally, it’s time to get your drawing moving.

Hulu is set to stream a new matchmaking series focusing on Muslim Americans seeking love.

The unscripted and still untitled series is from ABC News Studios and Smriti Mundhra, the creator of the popular Netflix dating series Indian Matchmaking and executive producer of Jewish Matchmaking. Senain Kheshgi (Project Kashmir) will executive produce the series alongside Mundhra, with executive editorial producer Poh Si Teng overseeing the project for ABC News Studios.

In development since 2022, the series will debut on Hulu next year.

While dating and matchmaking shows have become commonplace on both linear TV and on streaming services, Mundhra notes that “this project that will give audiences a chance to experience this journey from a perspective too rarely seen in the mainstream.”

“As a Muslim American, I’m excited to be part of a show that celebrates love and romance within our community,” adds Kheshgi. “In a world where negative stereotypes often paint Muslims as monolithic,...

Rick Peréz has officially announced his resignation as executive director of the International Documentary Association, just days before the annual IDA Awards are set to take place on Saturday, December 10.

Deadline first reported that Peréz, who joined the IDA in May 2021, will be exiting December 23. The IDA confirmed that Ken Ikeda will serve as interim executive director of the non-profit.

“Rick thanked the staff for their work and acknowledged the difficulties as well as successes during the past year and a half as executive director, but that the challenges of leading a changing organization, during and post-pandemic, have weighed on him,” an IDA spokesperson shared with IndieWire, citing Peréz’s announcement December 5. “Ultimately, he decided his work was done and that he wanted to return to filmmaking, and working with directors, producers, and others as well as creating film projects, his true passion.”

Four former senior IDA staffers resigned in...

When September rolls around, it means one thing for many of the top filmmakers in the world – time to hit the road. Venice, Telluride and Toronto come in rapid succession, to the point of overlapping. But for documentary filmmakers eager to showcase their work, there’s another important stop to make in September: the Camden International Film Festival in mid-coast Maine.

“We are strategically aligned to be right after Toronto and a week after Telluride, and we’re documentary only,” emphasizes Ben Fowlie, festival founder and executive director of the Points North Institute, which stages Ciff. “In terms of being able to highlight some of the larger [awards] contenders, so to speak, we can do it in a way that puts them on the main stage… This is just the moment for us to recognize the incredible artistry behind the documentary films that we’re going to be talking about at...

Some 20 nonfiction mediamakers will receive a fellowship stipend worth 60,000 in installments over the next year after being named a Humanities Sustainability Fellow by the nonprofit Sundance Institute.

The year-long program is for US-based and under-resourced mediamakers. They were selected because their work and livelihood have been grossly affected by the pandemic. The direct stipends will be unrestricted supplements to their income and are funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (Neh).

Funding for the Humanities Sustainability Fellowships has been provided by Neh through the American Rescue Plan, which is providing economic relief to a wide swath of Americans. Firelight Media and the Independent Television Service are also launching parallel initiatives that will expand the nonfiction field’s humanities-based work.

In addition to the funding, the fellows will be supported with advice from paid humanities advisors who will guide them through the granting term (April 2022–March 2023) with mentorship, project advice,...

The International Documentary Association has voluntarily recognized the union organized by its employees, both the IDA and the union announced today. IDA leaders and workers both say they’re hopeful this marks a positive step forward as the embattled organization begins to rebuild after months of strife. One of the first opportunities will be in how management and the union work together to iron out a contract and continue badly needed hiring — the IDA has lost nearly 50 percent of its workforce since December.

“This is a historic day for the IDA workers who worked tirelessly to get a union at our organization,” Hansen Bursic, an organizing committee member of the union, the Documentary Workers United, said in a statement. “We are excited to get to work to accomplish the goals laid out in our mission statement and fight for a contract that benefits staff.”

In his own statement, IDA Executive...

This week, members of the members of the documentary field are gathered in Copenhagen for Cph:Dox, one of Europe’s largest nonfiction film festivals. March 29 marks the start of the festival’s industry conference, where Oscar-nominated filmmaker Poh Si Teng delivered a keynote titled “Shifting Power.” Teng most recently oversaw the International Documentary Association’s grants portfolio as funds and enterprise program director.

It’s the first time Teng has spoken publicly since she was among four senior staffers who left IDA three months ago amid ongoing internal conflict at the nonprofit. They took issue with what they said was the top-down, diminishing management style of Executive Director Rick Pérez and clashed with him and the board over the implementation of progressive policies around fundraising and IDA’s signature screening series.

In her speech, which IndieWire shares exclusively below, Teng details the equity-based approach she took in her work as a funding gatekeeper,...

The IDA has announced the hiring of two senior staff members and a consultant, in what the embattled organization calls “a major step forward.”

Arts administrator and film festival programmer Keisha Knight has been appointed director of IDA Funds and Enterprise Program, a critical role that involves interfacing with grant-making entities that fund IDA initiatives.

“In this capacity [Knight] will oversee a portfolio of IDA’s granting programs,” the IDA said in a release, “including IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund, Logan elevate and Equity grants, and the Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund, Xrm Media Incubator, and Netflix Global Emerging Filmmaker Award.”

Abby Sun, a filmmaker, researcher, and artist at the MIT Open Documentary Lab, has been hired as the IDA’s director of artist programs. One of her major responsibilities will be to develop thematic content for the IDA’s Getting Real 2022 conference, which is scheduled for September.

Louise Rosen, a veteran producer,...

Tonight is the biggest event of the year for the International Documentary Association. It will honor the best in nonfiction film at the IDA Documentary Awards in Los Angeles, where “Summer of Soul” leads with four nominations and winners are closely watched as Oscar precursors. On Monday, the organization’s leaders will return to business as usual: Managing a 40-year-old nonprofit that’s been hamstrung by crisis.

Eight months after the IDA board tapped Rick Pérez as its new executive director, four senior staffers resigned en masse. A fifth left in February; two junior staffers followed suit. All are women or non-binary. This leaves the IDA with five vacant director-level positions on a six-person leadership team.

The four former senior staffers — deputy director Amy Halpin, senior director of development and partnerships Jina Chung, interim director of programming and advocacy Maggie Bowman, and funds and enterprise program director Poh Si Teng...

Exclusive: The International Documentary Association continues to lose staff. Deadline has learned five more employees have left the embattled organization recently, including one whose resignation takes effect today.

This follows the departure in early January of four senior staff members who filed a complaint about “workplace conduct” by IDA executive director Rick Pérez, who was appointed only last May, and actions by the board which the four said constituted a “betrayal of public commitments to the documentary field.”

About 16 people remain on staff, meaning the IDA, the premier nonprofit supporting the work of nonfiction storytellers, has shed almost 40 percent of its workforce in less than two months. That’s not counting another staffer we are told plans to leave imminently, and two other staffers who tell Deadline they are looking to exit as soon as they can line up other jobs.

Among those who resigned recently is Cassidy Dimon, who...

Exclusive: Four senior staffers who resigned in protest from the International Documentary Association are responding to a public statement from the IDA board dismissing their concerns about how the nonprofit organization is being run under new executive director Rick Pérez.

The board published a letter on the IDA website on Friday acknowledging “a number of documentary community members have expressed concern about recent changes at the IDA – particularly the resignations of four staff members.”

The board wrote that it hired “outside legal counsel and an independent investigator” to look into complaints from the four staffers – Maggie Bowman, Jina Chung, Amy Halpin and Poh Si Teng – about workplace conduct by Pérez.

“To protect the individuals’ privacy, we can’t address the specifics of the complaints in this letter…,” the board said, “however we can share that this investigator concluded that the claims were unsubstantiated.” The letter reiterated, “…[T]his result means that...

A couple of pointed questions underpin filmmaker Grace Lee’s new podcast, Viewers Like Us: as she frames it in episode 1, “Why is PBS so white and how exactly did it designate Ken Burns as America’s Storyteller?”

The questions are linked, asserts Lee, whose directing and producing credits number a dozen documentaries, some of which have aired on PBS, including the 2020 docuseries Asian Americans. While she acknowledges the public broadcaster has afforded some opportunities to filmmakers of color, she says it’s nothing on the order of the resources lavished on Burns, director of The Civil War (1990), Jazz (2001) and many other PBS documentary series, including two this year alone: the six-hour long Hemingway and the eight-hour Muhammad Ali.

“His hundreds of hours of primetime programming are products of a system,” Lee charges in the podcast, “that for decades has prioritized his worldview at the expense of storytellers of color.

Poh Si Teng, producer of Oscar-nominated documentary short “St. Louis Superman,” has joined the International Documentary Association (IDA) as the new director of the IDA Funds and Enterprise program.

Poh will oversee and build IDA’s grants portfolio and serve as a key liaison with the documentary field in the U.S. and globally, working with IDA’s program officer Dana Merwin.

Poh succeeds Carrie Lozano who joined the Sundance Institute as director of the documentary film program in fall 2020.

Prior to joining IDA, Poh oversaw the U.S., Canada and Latin America as documentary commissioner and senior producer for Al Jazeera English’s flagship documentary strand, “Witness.” She was previously a journalist with The New York Times, where she received an Emmy nomination and other awards from the Scripps Howard Foundation, the Society of Professional Journalists and the Nppa for her work.

Originally from Penang, Malaysia, Poh has also...

A super-crowded documentary field means that many are called and few are chosen. And critics carry more sway than ever in this pandemic year, helping to cull the long list of would-be awards contenders. Every win from whatever source helps to turn a movie into a must-see.

Thus Monday’s fifth annual Critics Choice Documentary Award winners — which recognize the year’s achievements in documentaries released in theaters, on TV and on digital platforms, for which I voted in several categories — push Best Documentary Feature “Dick Johnson Is Dead” (Netflix) and its Best Director Kirsten Johnson into the lead for the Oscar shortlist of 15, which the Academy will announce on February 9, 2021.

Netflix dominated the field with six wins, including “Dick Johnson is Dead,” popular hit “My Octopus Teacher,” which took home Best Cinematography and Best Science/Nature Documentary, Best Narration winner “David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet,” and, with “Athlete A,...

Dick Johnson Is Dead, Netflix’s personal documentary exploring a daughter’s look into the decline of her aging father, took top honors from the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards for Best Documentary Feature as well as Best Director for Kirsten Johnson.

The awards, which were spread out among several winners, saw no single docu dominate, and in fact another Netflix film, My Octopus Teacher, was the only other film to win more than one trophy, taking Best Science/Nature Docu and Best Cinematography.

Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution and Gunda had led nominations with five each but were shut out. Mr. Soul! which also had five noms, did take Best First Documentary Feature. Among other significant winners were John Lewis: Good Trouble for Best Historical/Biographical docu, and Apple TV+’s Boys State as Best Political Documentary.

“We couldn’t be more excited about being able to celebrate such a...

Kirsten Johnson’s playful “Dick Johnson Is Dead” has been named the best nonfiction film of 2020 at the fifth annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards, which were announced on Monday morning.

Johnson also won the Best Director award for her Netflix film, in which she deals with the impending death of her father by staging his death in a variety of ways.

Melissa Haizlip won the Best First Documentary Feature award for “Mr. Soul!,” while other awards went to “My Octopus Teacher” for cinematography, “Totally Under Control” for editing, “The Way I See It” for music and “David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet” for narration.

“MLK/FBI” was named Best Archival Documentary, “John Lewis: Good Trouble” Best Historical/Biographical Documentary, “Boys State” Best Political Documentary” and “My Octopus Teacher” Best Science/Nature Documentary.

There were two ties: “Ali & Cavett: The Tale of the Tapes” and “Athlete A” tied in the Best Sports Documentary category,...

Oscar nominated short film “St. Louis Superman” will premiere Monday, May 18 at 9 p.m. Et/Pt on MTV, VH1 and MTV2 via simulcast, TheWrap has exclusively learned. Watch the trailer embed above.

The critically-acclaimed film is co-directed by Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan and produced by Al Jazeera Witness and Poh Si Teng. “St. Louis Superman” is the first acquisition for Sheila Nevins for MTV Documentary Films and is being positioned for Emmy consideration. The network enlisted Nevins, a longtime HBO producer and executive, to lead its new documentary films division last May.

Music provides a different kind of counterpoint in Sami Khan and Smriti Mundhra’s “St. Louis Superman,” about a battle rapper and Ferguson protester who embarks on a successful political career and becomes a Missouri State Representative. Fighting to change an imbalanced and fundamentally racist system from the inside, using his battle-rap skillset to drum up positive change,...

Eight months ago, Sheila Nevins, the former longtime president of HBO Documentary and Family Programming, took over as head of MTV Documentary Films, a division of MTV Studios. One of the first projects she set up was short documentary St. Louis Superman, which today landed a Oscar nomination in the Documentary (Short Subject) category. It marked MTV’s first Oscar nomination in 15 years.

Nevins is no stranger to Oscars, her projects having won 28 statuettes over the course of her career. St. Louis Superman is MTV’s third Oscar nomination in its 39-year history. The network previously won for Best Original Song in 2005 for Hustle & Flow, and received nominations for 2004’s Tupac: Resurrection and 1999’s Election.

“St. Louis Superman is an underdog story and MTV is an underdog film distributor which makes all of this that much more gratifying and very special,” Nevins told Deadline. “There are so many great...

Sheila Nevins has set her first projects in her new capacity as head of MTV Documentary Films: the feature “17 Blocks” and short “St. Louis Superman.”

Both titles will have awards qualifying runs in the fall before airing on MTV’s various platforms.

“17 Blocks,” from filmmaker Davy Rothbart, chronicles 20 years in the life of an African-American family living in the shadow of the White House in Washington, D.C. “Superman,” from filmmakers Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan, revolves around the rapper-activist Bruce Franks Jr., who emerged from the protests in Ferguson, Mo. to win election to Missouri House of Representatives.

“At the heart of American democracy, there is an injustice that gnaws at the soul of the have-nots and Davy Rothbart’s ‘17 Blocks’ and Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan’s ‘St. Louis Superman’ are two films that expose both the injustices and courage of Americans who survive against almost insurmountable odds,...

MTV Documentary films unveiled its first two releases under Sheila Nevins Wednesday — Davy Rothbart’s “17 Blocks” and Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan’s “St. Louis Superman.”

The network enlisted Nevins, a longtime HBO producer and executive, to lead its new documentary films devision in May.

“17 Blocks” is described as “a transcendently personal film spanning 20 years in the life of an African American family living mere blocks away from the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC.”

Also Read: MTV's 'The Hills' Revival Marks Second-Highest Rated Cable Premiere of 2019 Among Young Adults

“St. Louis Superman” is about Bruce Franks Jr., a Ferguson activist and battle rapper who was elected to the overwhelmingly white and Republican Missouri House of Representatives in 2016.

MTV Documentary’s purchase of the films allows them to qualify for awards consideration. They will both screen at Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival in August.

“At the heart of American Democracy,...

During her tenure at HBO, Sheila Nevins reigned atop of the documentary pyramid for decades, adapting to more and more competition and new technology. There’s competition for top documentary talent and Nevins, now running MTV Documentary Films, knows how to get it. Even in the specialty film world, documentaries are about the only thing working these days, as theatrical narrative films are looking less and less commercially viable.

On Thursday, Nevins announced her first two projects for MTV Documentary Films. Both are political: Davy Rothbart directs non-fiction feature “17 Blocks,” spanning 20 years in the life of an African American family living blocks away from the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. And Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan’s short film “St. Louis Superman” is about Representative Bruce Franks Jr., a Ferguson activist and battle rapper who was elected to the overwhelmingly white and Republican Missouri House of Representatives.

“I’d...

During her tenure at HBO, Sheila Nevins reigned atop of the documentary pyramid for decades, adapting to more and more competition and new technology. There’s competition for top documentary talent and Nevins, now running MTV Documentary Films, knows how to get it. Even in the specialty film world, documentaries are about the only thing working these days, as theatrical narrative films are looking less and less commercially viable.

On Thursday, Nevins announced her first two projects for MTV Documentary Films. Both are political: Davy Rothbart directs non-fiction feature “17 Blocks,” spanning 20 years in the life of an African American family living blocks away from the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. And Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan’s short film “St. Louis Superman” is about Representative Bruce Franks Jr., a Ferguson activist and battle rapper who was elected to the overwhelmingly white and Republican Missouri House of Representatives.

“I’d...

MTV Documentary Films has set its first two projects under Sheila Nevins, who as president of HBO Documentary Films won 35 Emmys. The first ones at MTV are: the Davy Rothbart-directed 17 Blocks, a personal film spanning 20 years in the life of an African American family living mere blocks away from the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC; and the award-winning Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan-directed short documentary St. Louis Superman, about Representative Bruce Franks Jr., a Ferguson activist and battle rapper who was elected to the overwhelmingly white and Republican Missouri House of Representatives.

MTV Documentary Films will release both titles this fall to qualify for awards consideration. Each can be seen next month at Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival, and each launched at earlier festivals.

Executive produced by Nevins and produced and financed by Big Beach’s Alex Turtletaub, Michael B. Clark and Marc Turtletaub alongside Rachel Deniz and Rothbart,...

Awards campaigns planned for both festival winners.

MTV Documentary Films has announced (July 25) its first two films since launching under former president of HBO Documentary Films Sheila Nevins, and will mount awards campaigns for Emmy-winner Davy Rothbart’s 17 Blocks, and short documentary St. Louis Superman by Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan.

MTV Documentary Films will release both titles this autumn to qualify them for awards consideration. Both will screen at Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival in Michigan, which kicks off on July 30.

17 Blocks spans 20 years in the life of an African American family living blocks away from the...