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It was a healthy holiday weekend for Edgar Wright’s “Baby Driver,” which took in close to $40 million over the course of the week. The speedy heist movie is the rare original summer studio movie, and has mostly thrilled audiences and critics alike, echoing the enthusiasm for the lively movie that was first glimpsed at its SXSW Film Festival premiere in March.

The response is a notable triumph for Wright, bringing him back to the spotlight four years after his last feature, “The World’s End,” after which he struggled to enter the Marvel universe with “Ant Man” before leaving the project. Other filmmaker colleagues have spoken up to advocate for “Baby Driver,” including Guillermo Del Toro, who made the case for the movie in an enthusiastic series of tweets last week.

But the social media platform also showcased at least one famous name who had a negative response — globe-trotting chef Anthony Bourdain,...

Yesterday evening, the Writers Guild of America handed out their awards, marking one of the season’s final precursor stops and last guild ceremony. As with many of the guilds this year, a slight curveball was tossed our way, namely in that one potential frontrunner is nominated in a different category at Oscar. You’ll see what I mean shortly, along with a few other precursors that went down over the weekend. Ballots for the Academy Awards are due by tomorrow, so voters are making their final decisions literally as you read this. It’s very much the moment of truth, with the results of it all less than a week away now… Below you will see not just the WGA winners, but also the Cinema Audio Society, which basically predict Best Sound Mixing at the Oscars, as well as the victors from the Makeup Artists and Hair Stylists guild.

Live from New York! And also Los Angeles! It’s the 2017 Writers Guild Awards, honoring the best in writing for television, film and new media. This year’s big winners included some of the season’s most lauded productions — including “Moonlight,” “Arrival,” “Atlanta” and “The Americans.”

While “Moonlight” and “Arrival” will compete against each other in the Adapted Screenplay category at the Oscars, they were entered in the WGA Awards in different categories, allowing both to make off with an award. “The Americans” pulled out a win for Drama Series, while “Atlanta” snapped up both Comedy Series and New Series. Other winners included “Command and Control,” “Saturday Night Live,” “BoJack Horseman” and “This Is Us.”

Read More: The IndieWire 2016-17 Awards Season Winners Guide

Check out our full list of winners — noted in bold — all updated live as the awards were announced at concurrent ceremonies in New York and Los Angeles this evening.

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

Allied (Robert Zemeckis)

That thing we can’t take for granted: a film whose many parts – period piece, war picture, blood-spattered actioner, deception-fueled espionage thriller, sexy romance, and, at certain turns, comedy – can gracefully move in conjunction and separate from each other, just as its labyrinthine-but-not-quite plot jumps from one setpiece to the next with little trouble in maintaining a consistency of overall pleasure. Another late-career triumph for Robert Zemeckis,...

Sundance 2016 will always be remembered for the record-breaking $17.5 million sale of Nate Parker’s “The Birth of a Nation” to Fox Searchlight, on the heels of the #oscarsowhite backlash — and for the massive marketing fallout that followed in light of Parker’s rape-trial acquittal. With a domestic gross under $16 million, it led to one of the bigger failures among Sundance sales relative to expense.

Netflix outbid Searchlight for “The Birth of a Nation,” but the producers favored the theatrical route (including that company’s proven awards expertise and commercial success) and accepted less money. One wonders if it had been a high-profile Netflix film if the post-Sundance controversy about Nate Parker’s college days would have had the same impact or effect. It will be curious to see if any producer this year is as quick to turn down a high offer from Netflix or similar non-theatrical buyer.

Those memories could temper bidding wars,...

Continuing their strides to create and tell compelling real-life stories, Vice Media has announced the launch of Vice Documentary Films, a new division of Vice Films that will produce feature-length documentaries from both established and up-and-coming directors around the world.

Expanding on the adventurous storytelling that the company is known for, the new projects will focus on character-driven stories about rebels, radicals and people on the margins of society. The new division will be led by Jason Mojica, who previously served as Editor-in-Chief and Executive Producer of Vice News, and Brendan Fitzgerald, who helped launch the Viceland cable channel as its Head of Development.

“You hear a lot of people saying that there’s never been a better time for documentaries, and it turns out that’s true,” said Mojica, Executive Producer of Vice Documentary Films. “Audiences are more interested than ever in non-fiction storytelling and there are more and more platforms serving it up.

Awards season keeps ticking right along, but tonight’s Cinema Eye Honors promised at least a tiny respite from narrative-based filmmaking, as the New York City-set ceremony is all about honoring the best in the year’s documentary filmmaking.

Big winners included Kirsten Johnson’s “Cameraperson,” which picked up Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking, along with editing and cinematography wins. Right behind it was Ezra Edelman’s “O.J.: Made in America,” which earned Edelman a directing win, along with a production win for Edelman and Caroline Waterlow. Best TV offering went to “Making a Murderer.”

Nominations were lead by Raoul Peck’s “I Am Not Your Negro” and “O.J.: Made in America,” which each pulled in five nominations apiece, though Johnson’s “Cameraperson” and Gianfranco Rosi’s “Fire at Sea” aren’t far behind, with four nominations each. Both Peck and Rosi’s features ultimately walked away without an award.

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Leave it to the Merc With a Mouth to muscle his way into Hollywood’s annual awards season, surprising just about everyone in one fell swoop. As the nominations begin to pour in, Tim Miller’s irreverent Deadpool has received nods from the Golden Globes, all the while being shortlisted in both the Best VFX and Makeup and Hairstyling departments ahead of the 89th Academy Awards.

That’s quite the feat for any feature film, let alone an R-rated superhero movie based on one of the lesser-known characters from the Marvel vault. No wonder Ryan Reynolds is so optimistic about the mercenary’s cinematic future.

Now, we can add another nomination to Deadpool’s collection – and it’s a doozy, for Tim Miller’s no-holds-barred actioner has scooped up a nomination for a Writer’s Guild Award, joining Arrival, Fences,...

With a cluster of frontrunners and a wide-open field of potential Oscar entrants, the 2017 Writers Guild nominations provide more intelligence about where the Oscars could be heading.

The trio at the head of the pack continue to be “La La Land,” “Manchester by the Sea,” and “Moonlight.” Getting a much-needed late-inning boost are modern western “Hell or High Water” and biracial romance “Loving.” Both are critics’ faves that opened earlier in the year.

However, the WGA and the Academy differ on their categories this year. The WGA says “Moonlight” and “Loving” are original screenplays; for the Oscars, they would compete as adapted. That means that Noah Oppenheim’s “Jackie,” and scripts by writer-director Mike Mills (“20th Century Women”) and two non-signatory films that aren’t WGA-eligible, “The Lobster” and “Toni Erdmann,” might have a shot at landing an Oscar nod.

Conversely, that means some of the WGA’s Adapted Screenplay...

With a cluster of frontrunners and a wide-open field of potential Oscar entrants, the 2017 Writers Guild nominations provide more intelligence about where the Oscars could be heading.

The trio at the head of the pack continue to be “La La Land,” “Manchester by the Sea,” and “Moonlight.” Getting a much-needed late-inning boost are modern western “Hell or High Water” and biracial romance “Loving.” Both are critics’ faves that opened earlier in the year.

However, the WGA and the Academy differ on their categories this year. The WGA says “Moonlight” and “Loving” are original screenplays; for the Oscars, they would compete as adapted. That means that Noah Oppenheim’s “Jackie,” and scripts by writer-director Mike Mills (“20th Century Women”) and two non-signatory films that aren’t WGA-eligible, “The Lobster” and “Toni Erdmann,” might have a shot at landing an Oscar nod.

Conversely, that means some of the WGA’s Adapted Screenplay...

Writers of Hell or High Water, La La Land, Arrival and Deadpool are among the nominees for this year’s Writers Guild Awards.

Writers of Hell or High Water (pictured), La La Land, Arrival and Deadpool are among the nominees for this year’s Writers Guild Awards, set to be presented at ceremonies hosted by the West and East branches of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) on Feb 19.

Also nominated in the WGA’s original screenplay category are the writers of Loving, Manchester By The Sea and Moonlight. Fences, Hidden Figures and Nocturnal Animals produced the other nominations in the adapted screenplay category.

Documentary nominations went to Author: The Jt Leroy Story, Command And Control and Zero Days, while dramatic TV series getting nods were The Americans, Better Call Saul, Game Of Thrones, Stranger Things and Westworld.

Full list of feature nominees and selected TV nominees:

Original Screenplay

Hell or High Water Taylor Sheridan

La La Land [link...

Writers of Hell or High Water, La La Land, Arrival and Deadpool are among the nominees for this year’s Writers Guild Awards.

Writers of Hell or High Water (pictured), La La Land, Arrival and Deadpool are among the nominees for this year’s Writers Guild Awards, set to be presented at ceremonies hosted by the West and East brances of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) on Feb 19.

Also nominated in the WGA’s original screenplay category are the writers of Loving, Manchester by the Sea and Moonlight. Fences, Hidden Figures and Nocturnal Animalsproduced the other nominations in the adapted screenplay category.

Documentary nominations went to Author: The Jt Leroy Story, Command and Control and Zero Days, while dramatic TV series getting nods were The Americans, Better Call Saul, Game of Thrones, Stranger Things and Westworld.

Full list of feature nominees and selected TV nominees:

Original Screenplay

Hell or High Water Taylor Sheridan

La La Land [link...

Just now, the Writers Guild of America announced their nominations, which are always an interesting precursor to take note of. They’re the next of the big guilds, potentially shaping how the Academy Award nominations will ultimately go. The nominees today were a mix of the expected frontrunners like Damien Chazelle for La La Land, Barry Jenkins for Moonlight, and Kenneth Lonergan for Manchester by the Sea, but the WGA also made room for Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick for Deadpool, along with Taylor Sheridan for Hell or High Water, just to name a few. Overall, it’s a lineup that’s hard to argue with, even if there were snubs here and there. Below you will see the nominees, but first, a bit of prep. Remember that in the Original Screenplay category, Everybody Wants Some, Florence Foster Jenkins, The Lobster, Miss Sloane, and Paterson were declared ineligible. Also not...

The Writers Guild of America announced the nominees for the 2017 WGA Awards this morning, with “Manchester by the Sea” and “Moonlight” both landing nods for Best Original Screenplay and “Arrival” and “Nocturnal Animals” among the contenders for Best Adapted Screenplay. Patton Oswalt is hosting this year’s ceremony, which takes place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday, February 19. Full list of nominees below.

Read More: Casey Affleck Bashes Himself and 5 Other Surprises From the New York Film Critics Circle Awards

Original Screenplay

“Hell or High Water,” written by Taylor Sheridan; CBS Films

“La La Land,” written by Damien Chazelle; Lionsgate

“Loving,” written by Jeff Nichols; Focus Features

“Manchester by the Sea,” written by Kenneth Lonergan; Amazon Studios/Roadside Attractions

“Moonlight,” written by Barry Jenkins, Story by Tarell McCraney; A24

Read More: 2017 Independent Spirit Awards: Nick Kroll and John Mulaney to Co-Host Ceremony

Adapted Screenplay

“Arrival,” screenplay by Eric Heisserer...

Every year, IndieWire looks beyond the countless top 10 lists written by critics to widen the field. We turn to friends and colleagues in the independent film community — programmers, distributors, publicists and others — to give them the opportunity to share their favorite films and other media from the past 12 months. We also invited them to share their resolutions and anticipated events for 2017.

The Best of 2016: IndieWire’s Year in Review Bible

Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director, Toronto International Film Festival

I’m limiting my list to films that had Us and Canadian theatrical releases in 2016. I saw far more than 10 this year that I liked, but if I have to be brutal, I’ll limit it to the films that lifted me.

1. “Moonlight”

2. “Julieta”

3. “Toni Erdmann”

4. “Cemetery of Splendor”

5. “Arrival”

6. “Fences”

7. “13th”

8. “American Honey”

9. “Things to Come”

10. “Moana”

Michael Barker, Co-President, Sony Pictures Classics

“Now is the winter of our discontent.

The subject of the film Author: The Jt Leroy Story says she was attacked ‘with the fury of wasps’ after her deception was uncovered

In the late 90s and early 00s, before social media and smartphones, the coolest celebrities were coming in off a wave of grunge rock: Courtney Love, Eddie Vedder, Billy Corgan in music; Winona Ryder and Gus Van Sant in film. The fin de siècle vibe was parties, saturated colour, androgynous clothing. And the hottest literary commodity of the moment was Jt LeRoy.

LeRoy, a 25-year-old writer in a wig and hat, looked like a Culkin kid gone to seed. He went to all the cool parties. The social pages ran photos of him hanging out with Bono, Debbie Harry and Shirley Manson. When he was too shy to do readings of his work, his celebrity friends such as Lou Reed stepped in and read for him.

The struggle for racial equality in America, the careers of cinematographers, directors, and photographers, the immigration crisis, music as celebration and grief, and strange conspiracies — these were just a few of the places and stories that this year’s documentary offerings brought us. With 2016 wrapping up, we’ve selected 20 features in the field that most impressed, so check out our list below and, in the comments, let us know your favorites.

13th (Ava DuVernay)

Following the stunning Selma, which conveyed a present-tense urgency sorely lacking in many biopics and radically distributed screen-time away from Dr. King to communicate the collectivity inherent to any reform movement, Ava DuVernay has shifted her rhetorical approach, but her anger remains. Whereas Selma was emotive and explosive, 13th is lucid and level-headed, gradually and methodically making a case that black incarceration is actually just a reconfigured and rebranded form of slavery. Sticking to conventional but...

BAMcinematek is losing its director Gabriele Caroti, who will be leaving the organization early next year to start his own consulting business. Caroti’s new venture will focus on theatrical exhibition and distribution, specifically the integration of marketing, publicity and programming. His primary clients will be exhibitors.

Read More: 12 Must-See Films at BAMCinemaFest 2016

Caroti plans to announce more details about his next venture, including a company name, in the first quarter of 2017. He will continue to be based in New York for the foreseeable future. “That could change,” he told IndieWire. “I’m building off of everything I’ve learned over the years in New York and taking it nationally and beyond.”

BAMcinematek declined to comment on its future plans for the position.

Caroti has served as director of BAMcinematek since 2013, having joined the organization as a publicity manager in 2009. He was previously the assistant director of public relations at...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

Author: The Jt Leroy Story (Jeff Feuerzeig)

Author: The Jt LeRoy Story relives the literary hoax of the early aughts, the truly weird and out of control tale of Jt LeRoy. An allegedly gender-fluid HIV positive son of a West Virginia truck stop hooker, he rose to the heights of indie stardom befriending the likes of Courtney Love, Shirley Manson, Lou Reed, Michael Pitt, Billy Corgan and filmmakers Gus Van...

Yesterday, the Academy announced one of their long lists, whittling down the Best Animated Feature contenders to just 15 finalists. They went from an initial listing of 145 titles, making this comparatively a very short list. It consists of all of the year’s big contenders, as you’ll see shortly, but it also has relatively few snubs. I’ll get into that momentarily, but that’s a nice change of pace. This is always somewhat of a crapshoot, category wise, so knowing there’s a ton of quality here is never a bad thing at all. Anyway, this is more information to take into account when doing your Oscar predictions. The puzzle is slowly coming together, ladies and gentlemen! Nothing too unexpected was left off this list, though Leonardo Dicaprio and Fisher Stevens’ Before the Flood, Werner Herzog’s Into the Inferno, Ron Howard’s The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years,...

The nominees for the 10th annual Cinema Eye Honors have been announced, with “I Am Not Your Negro” and “Oj: Made in America” both receiving five each. They’re followed in short order by “Cameraperson” and “Fire at Sea,” which along with “Weiner” are all in contention for the top prize. A total of 37 features and five shorts will be in contention at the upcoming ceremony, which “Hoop Dreams” director Steve James will host from the Museum of the Moving Image on January 11. Here’s the full list of nominees:

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking

“Cameraperson” (Kirsten Johnson)

“Fire at Sea” (Gianfranco Rosi)

“I Am Not Your Negro” (Raoul Peck)

“Oj: Made in America” (Ezra Edelman)

“Weiner” (Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg)

Outstanding Achievement in Direction

Kirsten Johnson, “Cameraperson”

Gianfranco Rosi, “Fire at Sea”

Raoul Peck, “I Am Not Your Negro”

Robert Greene, “Kate Plays Christine”

Ezra Edelman, “Oj:...

Late last week, another long list appeared out of thin air to clue us in to what AMPAS might be up to this year. Here, it was the near record 145 contenders up for nominations in Best Documentary Feature. Below you’ll see all of the 145, but I also want to just point out that the ultimate five nominees could literally be any one of them. Sure, there are some smarter bets, which I’ll address momentarily, but the way the Academy works, it may just come down to which winds wind up getting seen. Oscar will have their say soon, but until then, it’s a guessing game. Still, that’s kind of what I do for a living. As such, let the guessing on my part continue! It can sometimes be hard to figure out which hopefuls turn out to be the frontrunners, but there’s definitely some higher end titles.

A total of 145 feature documentaries were submitted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for consideration for the 89th Academy Awards.

Out of those films the members of the Academy’s documentary branch will select a shortlist of 15 features that will be announced in December, and the five nominations will be announced on January 24.

Read More: Documentary, Now: Three Rock Stars Who Run the Fast-Changing Non-Fiction World

Among the titles included in the list are Ava DuVernay’s “13th,” the Sundance Documentary Grand Jury Prize winner “Weiner” by Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg, Raoul Peck’s Toronto Film Festival Audience Award winner “I Am Not Your Negro,” the visually stunning “Voyage of Time: The Imax Experience” by Terrence Malik and Otto Bell’s “The Eagle Huntress.”

Read More: Oscars 2017: 10 Documentary Shorts Vie for Nominations

This year Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees’ film “Amy” about British singer Amy Winehouse...

Cinema Eye, the organization that recognizes outstanding craft and artistry in nonfiction filmmaking, has announced their annual list of The Unforgettables, designed to highlight “this year’s most notable and significant nonfiction film subjects.” This is Cinema Eye’s tenth anniversary year, and the fourth straight year that they have unveiled their list of Unforgettables, which IndieWire is very happy to exclusively reveal below.

The Unforgettables list aims to celebrate the year’s most exciting collaborations between filmmakers and their subjects, and it’s hard to imagine a list more representative of that ideal than this one. Standouts include director Kirsten Johnson of “Cameraperson,” actress Kate Sheil of “Kate Plays Christine,” subject Sharon Jones of “Miss Sharon Jones!” and both Huma Abedin and Anthony Weiner from the revealing feature “Weiner.” And that’s just the start of a list that’s wonderfully representative of some of this year’s most indelible doc subjects.

The 27th edition of the Stockholm International Film Festival (Nov 9 - 20) will present 200 films from 70 countries.

The Stockholm International Film Festival will kick-off with Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or winner I, Daniel Blake, followed by a mid-festival ‘middle film’ screening in the shape of Nate Parker’s Birth of A Nation, and will close with Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester By The Sea.

Directors attending the festival include Francis Ford Coppola (who will receive the lifetime achievement award, present a public talk, and screen Apocalypse Now), Ken Loach, Francois Ozon (who receives the festival’s Visionary Award), Ira Sachs, Alice Lowe, Mark Cousins, Anne Fontaine, Gabe Klinger, and many more.

The festival’s main competition line-up is:

A Decent Woman by Lukas Valenta Rinner (Arg, S Kor, Aus)A Taste Of Ink by Morgan Simon (Fr)Albüm by Mehmet Can Mertoğlu (Tur, Fr, Rom)Are We Not Cats by Xander Robin (Us)Birth Of A Nation by [link...

While best documentary conversations start to take shape in January at the Sundance Film Festival, making the transition from rapturous festival play to awards-season contender is a harrowing road. A documentary must be truly extraordinary to make the final Oscar five.

The number of Sundance docs with awards potential is breathtaking: Breaking out of Sundance 2016 were U.S. Grand Jury Prize winner “Weiner” (IFC), an entertaining portrait of a politician brought down by his weakness for sexting, which turned into a summer hit; U.S. Documentary Directing Award winner “Life, Animated” (The Orchard), a moving portrait of an autistic child who grows up with Disney movies; and HBO’s Audience Award winner “Jim: The James Foley Story.”

Scoring great reviews were Ezra Edelman’s five-part movie “O.J.: Made in America” (Espn), an exhaustive examination of O.J. Simpson and race relations in Los Angeles from the ’60s through the Trial of...

Nearly 200 cinemas around the U.S. will celebrate the inaugural Art House Theater Day on Saturday, September 24 by showing first run and repertory screenings of movies from a variety of genres. The one-day, nationwide event is being organized by Art House Convergence, an international consortium of independent, community movie theaters.

Read More: Art House Convergence Releases Open Letter Opposing Proposed ‘Screening Room’ Platform

Participating theaters will screen at least one of four films, including the theatrical premiere of the Magnolia Pictures documentary “Danny Says,” about punk rock pioneer Danny Fields. The three other movies include a 2k restored version of Terry Gilliam’s 1981 adventure-fantasy “Time Bandits,” director Don Coscarelli’s 1979 cult sci-fi horror classic “Phantasm: Remastered,” and a one-time only presentation of “A Town Called Panic: The Specials” a collection of stop-motion animated short films featuring two new shorts.

Select theaters will also live-stream a Q&A from Austin,...

★★★☆☆ "A created thing is never invented and it is never true; it is always and ever itself." This quote by Federico Fellini kicks off Jeff Feuerzeig's stranger-than-fiction yarn Author: The Jt LeRoy Story - and it's the perfect way to do so. Not only does it address the elusive nature of a creation, but it equally prepares the audience for a work steeped in the ambiguity, opacity and unreliable narration of the masterful Italian auteur. However, it distinctly lacks the same kind of transcendent clarity of vision, proving to be as fractured and nebulous as its subject matter - hardly surprising given that this the story is told by its protagonist.

He wrote bestselling books, made numerous public appearances, became a Hollywood "it" boy and befriended a slew of A-list celebrities, but author Jt Leroy never actually existed. In 2006, Laura Albert shocked the the literary world and Hollywood alike when she revealed that she was the person behind the beloved and celebrated young author - supposedly a HIV-positive transgender ex-prostitute who chronicled his troubled upbringing in the novel Sarah and The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things: Stories. Now 10 years after the scandal broke and Albert was labeled the mastermind of one of the entertainment's most elaborate hoaxes (a word...

He wrote bestselling books, made numerous public appearances, became a Hollywood "it" boy and befriended a slew of A-list celebrities, but author Jt Leroy never actually existed. In 2006, Laura Albert shocked the the literary world and Hollywood alike when she revealed that she was the person behind the beloved and celebrated young author - supposedly a HIV-positive transgender ex-prostitute who chronicled his troubled upbringing in the novel Sarah and The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things: Stories. Now 10 years after the scandal broke and Albert was labeled the mastermind of one of the entertainment's most elaborate hoaxes (a word...

After some recent episodes of Ayt, in which me and my co-host Joe von Appen have bemoaned the rather weak state of movies for most this year (though all this recent festival coverage has us excited for the coming months of big releases), we’ve turned a corner and on this episode highlight two smaller releases well worth seeking out.

Read More: ‘Kicks’ Is An Astonishing Directorial Debut By Justin Tipping About Manhood, Violence & Dreams

Our main review is about “Kicks,” the debut from director Justin Tipping (a director we’ll certainly be following closely now) that’s a blast of cinematic verve and entertaining to boot.

Continue reading Podcast: Adjust Your Tracking Falls Hard For ‘Kicks’ & Gets Lost In ‘Author: The Jt Leroy Story’ at The Playlist.

Dwarfing fiction by a mile, the true story of writer Laura Albert’s avatar, Jt LeRoy in “Author: The Jt LeRoy Story”, questions our…

Continue reading on SydneysBuzz The Blog »...

The Labor Day holiday weekend typically marks the end of the summer movie season, and the grosses typically reflect the end of summer as well. Last weekend, the hit thriller Don't Breathe took the top spot with $15.7 million over the first three-days, and a total of $19.5 over the extended four-day holiday, but it faced four newcomers this weekend, the true story biopic Sully, the sexually-charged thriller When the Bough Breaks, the animated adventure The Wild Life and Relativity's thriller The Disappointments Room. As predicted, Sully easily took the top spot with $35.5 million this weekend.

We had wondered if the 15th Anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks would cause people to skip Sully, starring Tom Hanks as the pilot who saved lives during an incredible emergency landing known as the Miracle on the Hudson. That wasn't the case, though, with the movie pulling in an impressive $10,072 per-screen average from 3,525 theaters, according to Box Office Mojo.

As the specialized film industry concentrates on the Toronto International Film Festival, new movies do continue to open around the country.

The leading opener this weekend, Gravitas Ventures’ “For the Love of Spock,” had a strong initial take via Video on Demand home-viewing venues.

Opening

“For the Love of Spock” (Gravitas Ventures) – Metacritic: 74; Festivals include: Tribeca 2016; also available on Video on Demand

$42,000 in 34 theaters; PTA: $1,235

The key number isn’t the slight theatrical take. It’s the reported $400,000 initial take on streaming platforms, where it is ranked best among independent and documentary releases. “Star Trek” and Leonard Nimoy fans found the vehicle to connect with for the 50th anniversary of the original TV show’s debut.

What comes next: Expect ongoing interest for this, mostly in home viewing.

“Author: The Jt Leroy Story” (Magnolia) – Metacritic: 74; Festivals include: Sundance, San Francisco, Seattle 2016

$25,000 in 5 theaters; PTA (per theater average): $5,000

A disappointing...

In fictional storytelling, truth is something to strive for. Sure, few attempt to separate themselves from reality, but ultimately, only some succeed in the pursuit thereof. “Author: The Jt Leroy Story”, a documentary from Jeff Feuerzeig, is as truthful as it gets. Yet its content is so wildly absurd, that it plays like a work […]

The post Documentary ‘Author: The Story of Jt Leroy’ Is A Fascinating Look At A Fabulist [Review] appeared first on The Playlist.

This week sees the theatrical release of Author: The Jt LeRoy Story, a documentary by Jeff Feuerzeig about the famous troubled young writer, who, as it turned out, was a fictional character devised by writer Laura Albert and actress Savannah Knoop. The story is interesting, as is the film, as Feuerzeig doesn't shy away from the controversies surrounding the character's creators and the celebrities who endorsed "him". One of those celebrities was Winona Ryder, and she is the subject of this week's quiz. The endorsement itself wasn't too surprising at the time, as for decades, Winona Ryder seemed to flit effortlessly through the worlds of underground, indie counter-culture, and glamorous Hollywood. Her resumee has an impressive selection of quirky and daring roles on it, switching...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

James + Semaj is a column where James Franco talks to his reverse self, Semaj, about new films. Rather than a conventional review, it is place where James and Semaj can muse about ideas that the films provoke. James loves going to the movies and talking about them. But a one-sided take on a movie, in print, might be misconstrued as a review. As someone in the industry it could be detrimental to James’s career if he were to review his peers, because unlike the book industry—where writers review other writer’s books—the film industry is highly collaborative, and a bad review of a peer could create problems. So, assume that James (and Semaj) love all these films. What they’re interested in talking about is all the ways the films inspire them, and make them think. James is me, and Semaj is the other side of me.

To some, it was a major con, the kind of hoax that hurts. After all, author Jeremiah "Terminator" LeRoy hit the literary world hard with his novel Sarah (2000) and his short story collection The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2001). There were copious raves for these raw tales of child abuse, drugs, truck-stop sex and other bumps in the road for this HIV-positive, transgender male. Then, late in 2005, came the revelation that Jt Leroy was the invented male persona of Brooklyn-born Laura Albert, a former phone-sex operator turned San Francisco housewife and mother.

The public exposure of “Jt LeRoy” was one of the biggest literary scandals of the new millennium. In October 2005, New York magazine published an article alleging that the HIV-positive, transgendered literary sensation, who claimed that their sordid tales of truck-stop prostitutes and drug-addicted runaways were based on their own abusive childhood, didn’t actually exist. Then a few months later, The New York Times revealed that the person who had been appearing at book signings and red-carpet premieres as LeRoy was actually named Savannah Knoop, and “LeRoy’s” publicist ”Speedie” was actually a San Francisco housewife named Laura Albert, who was also—to complicate things further—the true author of LeRoy’s books.

This tangled web of celebrity deception is chronicled in the new documentary Author: The Jt Leroy Story, and The A.V. Club is giving our readers in Chicago the opportunity to see the movie on Thursday ...

Saturday Am Update: With an estimated $12.2 million on Friday, Sully is off to a great start, looking at a three-day opening that could top $34 million. The film also took home an "A" CinemaScore from opening day audiences and with an opening this big we're looking at the third best live-action opener for Tom Hanks and possibly the fifth largest September opening ever. Pulling in second with an estimated $5.28 million is Screen Gems' thriller When the Bough Breaks, which is looking at a three-day opening around $14.5 million if not a little higher. Lionsgate's animated feature The Wild Life could only manage an estimated $700,000 from 2,493 theaters, headed toward an opening around $2.6 million. And the last of the weekend's new wide releases is Relativity's The Disappointments Room, which managed a mere $475,000 from 1,554 theaters, anticipating an overall opening around $1.1 million. You can check out our chart of Friday estimates here and we'll be...

Welcome back to the Weekend Warrior, your weekly look at the new movies hitting theaters this weekend, as well as other cool events and things to check out.

This Past Weekend:

As expected, Labor Day weekend wasn’t good for the two new wide releases at all, although the romantic drama The Light Between Oceans (DreamWorks), starring Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, ended up doing far better of the two. Also as expected, Fede Alvarez’s Don’t Breathe (Screen Gems) won the weekend with a four-day total of $19.7 million, a little less than I predicted. The Light Between Oceans ended up with slightly over $6 million, roughly the same as my original prediction but 20th Century Fox’s thriller Morgan, starring Kate Mara, bomb-bomb-bombed with a ridiculously bad four-day opening of just $2.5 million in its first four days. The Mexican comedy No Manches Frida (Lionsgate/Pantelion) ended up faring better in just 362 theaters,...

The full truth behind the existence of literary wonder Jt LeRoy is finally being brought to the public’s attention. ‘Author: The Jt Leroy Story,’ the new documentary about the celebrated writer who turned out to just be an invention of another scribe’s imagination, opens this Friday in select theaters. Amazon Studios and Magnolia Pictures will distribute the film, which was written and directed by Jeff Feuerzeig, into Landmark Sunshine Cinema and Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Theatre in New York City. ‘Author: The Jt Leroy Story’s theatrical release comes after it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. The documentary’ then screened at such other festivals as the San [ Read More ]

The post Uncover the Truth of Author: The Jt Leroy Story in Documentary’s Theatrical Release appeared first on Shockya.com.

The low-budget hit thriller Don't Breathe managed to stay atop the box office during the Labor Day holiday weekend, taking in $15.7 million over the first three-days, and a total of $19.5 over the extended four-day holiday. Now that the fall movie season is kicking into high gear, some of this year's awards season favorites will start hitting the big screen, with the highly-anticipated biopic Sully poised to be one of the first Oscar candidates to arrive this year. We're predicting that Sully should have no trouble taking the top spot this weekend with $22.5 million, fending off fellow new releases The Disappointments Room, The Wild Life and When the Bough Breaks.

What will be interesting to see is how the 9/11 anniversary affects box office sales. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the terrorist attack, and while Sully, which stars Tom Hanks as the title character, does not have anything to do with terrorism,...

The summer movie season is now officially over, bringing an end to big popcorn blockbusters. Last weekend, Don't Breathe surprised everyone as it brought Suicide Squad's three-week reign to a close. While Don't Breathe's opening gross of $26.4 million might not sound like much, it far surpassed its budget of $9.9 million. This weekend it faced off against two newcomers, the 20th Century Fox A.I. thriller Morgan, which has only been gettin so-so reviews. And DreamWorks and Touchstone's drama The Light Between the Oceans. The Obama date movie Southside With You also expanded. Despite having some new competition, Don't Breathe was able to score its second weekend atop the box office with $15.7 million.

Don't Breathe played in 3,051 theaters this weekend, pulling in a decent $5,146 per-screen average. Box Office Mojo reports that Morgan debuted in 2,020 theaters, but the movie failed to crack the top 10 in 17th place with $1.9 million, pulling...

The International Documentary Association (Ida) has announced the lineup for this year’s screening series, beginning with “The Eagle Huntress” on September 7. Other high-profile selections in the program, which runs until November 10 and takes place at the Landmark in Los Angeles, include “O.J.: Made in America,” Golden Bear winner “Fire at Sea” and Alex Gibney’s “Zero Days.” Each screening is free to the public, with Ida members offered first seating; many events will also feature Q&As.

In a statement, Ida executive director Simon Kilmurry said that “the incredible range of topics in Ida’s screening series showcases just how vibrant and dynamic documentary film has become, and how vital is has become as a way to explore our world.” Full lineup below.

Read More: Getting Real 2016: Ida and AMPAS Announce Conference Guests, Including Ava DuvVernay and Steve James

September 7: “The Eagle Huntress”

September 8: “Author: The Jt LeRoy Story...

The Labor Day holiday traditionally marks the end of the summer movie season, and the end of huge box office grosses. Last weekend, the horror-thriller Don't Breathe managed to end Suicide Squad's three-week reign atop the box office with $26.4 million, and this weekend it will face two newcomers, 20th Century Fox's thriller Morgan and DreamWorks and Touchstone's drama The Light Between the Oceans, with the true story drama Southside With You also expected to expand. Still, we're predicting that Don't Breathe will win for a second weekend in a row, in what has always been a typically low-grossing frame.

While Don't Breathe didn't put up staggering numbers last weekend, it will still be playing in over 1,000 more theaters than its competitors. Box Office Mojo reports that Morgan will be released in approximately 2,000 theaters, while The Light Between the Oceans is expected to debut in 1,500 theaters. Southside With You is...

Now that the summer is cooling down, we’re entering perhaps the best time of year for cinephiles, with a variety of festivals — some of which will hold premieres of our most-anticipated 2016 features — gearing up. As we do each year, after highlighting the best films offered thus far, we’ve set out to provide a comprehensive preview of the fall titles that should be on your radar, and we’ll first take a look at selections whose quality we can attest to. Ranging from acclaimed debuts at Sundance, Cannes, and more, we’ve rounded up 25 titles that will arrive from September to December (in the U.S.) and are all well worth seeking out.

As a note, these didn’t make the cut, but you can see our reviews at the links: White Girl (9/2), Other People (9/9), London Road (9/9), Goat (9/23), Sand Storm (9/28), Do Not Resist (9/30), The Birth of a Nation (10/7), Desierto...

All this week, IndieWire will be rolling out our annual Fall Preview, including offerings that span genres, a close examination of some of the year’s biggest breakouts, all the awards contenders you need to know about now and special attention to all the new movies you need to get through a jam-packed fall movie-going season. Check back every day for a new look at the best the season has to offer, and clear your schedule, because we’re going to fill it right up.

“The Light Between Oceans,” September 2

Derek Cianfrance’s sweet spot is relationship dramas that don’t balk at showing just how damn hard it can be to love someone and to sustain that love (hi, “Blue Valentine”), and with his big screen adaptation of the bestselling novel of the same name, he takes those interests and skills right to a post-World War I landscape tailormade for a sweeping,...

Many authors use a pseudonym to mask their real identity or to place distance between the text and themselves, but no one creates an entirely new identity with different experiences and actually send them out into the world. Well, that’s exactly what Laura Albert did. The 40-year-old San Francisco former phone-sex operator turned housewife created a literary persona named Jt Leroy, who took the world by storm with his “exploits” about his sordid childhood mired by prostitution, drug addiction, and vagrancy. The new documentary “Author: The Jt LeRoy Story” chronicles Albert’s creation from the height of LeRoy’s fame at fashion events and rock shows to the New York Times pulling the rug out from under the story. Watch an exclusive clip from the film below.

Read More: Sundance Review: ‘Author: The Jt LeRoy Story’ Casts a Major Literary Scandal in New Light

The film is directed by Jeff Feuerzeig,...

The Guardian film team discuss the latest films hitting UK cinemas

This week, we review the revamped Jason Bourne; Pixar’s Finding Dory; documentary Author: The Jt Leroy Story and Thomas Vinterberg’s Danish film The Commune.

Follow us on Twitter (GuardianFilm, Henry, Ben, Catherine, Andrew, Peter and producer Katie) and check out our Facebook page. Comment on the show below.

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