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Moody’s previous roles include director of film programming at Sheffield Doc Fest.

Luke W Moody, the former director of film programming at the UK’s Sheffield DocFest, has been named the head of the BFI Doc Society Fund at Doc Society.

In this role, Moody will lead the team in managing all aspects of the UK-wide BFI Doc Society Fund slate and will collaborate with Doc Society directors Shanida Scotland and Sandra Whipham on the strategic direction of Doc Society’s role as the BFI’s UK-wide delegate partner for documentary.

Scotland and Whipham had been managing the fund on an interim basis.

A UK-Ireland deal with distributor Modern Films has already been signed.

London and New York-based sales firm Together Films has acquired world rights to Paul Sng’s Tish, which opens Sheffield DocFest tonight (June 14).

A UK-Ireland deal with distributor Modern Films has already been signed.

The film tells the story of artist Tish Murtha, a photographer who captured images of working-class communities, and follows Tish’s daughter Ella, in her drive to preserve her mother’s legacy.

Sng’s previous films include Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché (also released in the UK and Ireland by Modern) and Dispossession.

Tish...

Tish will open DocFest Photo: Ella Murtha Sheffield DocFest has announced that Paul Sng’s Tish will open this year’s festival on 14 June.

The festival describes the film as "an intimate portrait of British documentary photographer Tish Murtha, and her daughter’s fight to preserve her legacy" which "celebrates the vision and profound humanism of this gifted artist".

Sng previously directed Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle and co-directed Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché.

He said: “We’re completely delighted that Tish has been chosen to open Sheffield DocFest, a huge honour in a fitting city to launch a film about a photographer whose images show the fun, mischief and ingenuity of working class communities. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Tish Murtha used her camera to interrogate the detrimental impact of Thatcherism and deindustrialisation.

The festival also confirmed that Iranian director Rakshan Banietemad, director of Tales...

Paul Sng’s “Tish,” an intimate portrait of British documentary photographer Tish Murtha, will open the 30th edition of Sheffield DocFest on June 14. Iranian filmmaker Rakhshan Bani-Etemad will be the guest of honor.

In his film, Sng – whose work includes “Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché” and “Dispossession” – both celebrates the vision and humanism of a gifted artist, and follows Murtha’s daughter Ella as she fights to preserve her mother’s legacy.

“’Tish’ is a powerful tribute to a vital artist, activist and social chronicler, and a rallying call to all whose engagement with art questions who gets seen and heard, who doesn’t, and why,” the festival said in a statement. “This is a story of contemporary Britain, of the fight for culture, as well as the life of a mother and activist.”

The film is produced by Jen Corcoran (“Nascondino” [Hide and Seek]) through Teesside-based Freya Films...

Click here to read the full article.

The 66th BFI London Film Festival has unveiled its lineup of world premieres at this year’s edition, including Guillermo del Toro’s Netflix stop-motion animation film Pinocchio.

The fest will also mark the debut of Creature, a collaboration between choreographer Akram Khan and Oscar winner Asif Kapadia, as well as family animation My Father’s Dragon from Nora Twomey (The Breadwinner) and Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon (Wolfwalkers, The Song of the Sea).

The London festival’s series and episodic selection, now in its second year, has “a thrilling range of stories for audiences to see on the big screen,” organizers said. They unveiled a “series special presentation” as the world premiere of The English, starring Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer, a tale of romance and revenge from television auteur Hugo Blick (An Honourable Woman, Black Earth Rising). Also premiering in the section are comedy-drama Mammals,...

Ls Films’ slate also includes ’I Am Irvine Welsh’ about the ‘Trainspotting’ author.

Ls Films is expanding its Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff) world premiere short Little Warrior into a feature entitled Pequena Guerrera.

The story is about a young female boxer, Johana Gomez of Venezuela, who works remotely with Scottish boxing trainer Gary Young, to follow her dreams of Olympic glory. Screen Scotland is supporting the feature’s development.

Little Warrior, which was commissioned by Guardian Documentaries, premieres Saturday (August 20) at Eiff during a special event that will also include a discussion with director Paul Sng, producer Sarah Drummond,...

A simple listing, duplicated from the dvd/blu/vod US and Canada page, of new releases and other stuff currently available, for the benefit of those playing along by RSS or keeping up via the Weekly Digest emails (sign up here).

The most up-to-date version of this listing is always here.

new from Aug 02–05

Mrs Harris Goes to Paris (premium VOD) Prey (Hulu) Thirteen Lives (Prime) Wild Men Lightyear (premium VOD/Disney+) Luck (AppleTV+) Resurrection

I’m planning to watch…

Exposing Muybridge Gone in the Night Minions: The Rise of Gru (premium VOD) Official Competition Stowaway (AMC+)

(films on regular VOD and/or DVD unless otherwise noted)

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recent releases

The Bad Guys The Batman...

Lena Dunham’s Sundance entry “Sharp Stick” has been acquired by small indie distributor Utopia for U.S. rights. Utopia plans a theatrical release later this year.

The film, which follows a young woman’s unexpected quest of sexual exploration and self-discovery, marks Dunham’s first feature in 12 years since her breakout “Tiny Furniture.”

“Sharp Stick” stars Kristine Froseth, Jon Bernthal, Taylour Paige, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Dunham, Luka Sabbat, Tommy Dorfman and Scott Speedman.

“I’ve been so impressed with how quickly Utopia has established itself as a brave and committed voice in independent and experimental film,” Dunham said in a statement. “They don’t cower from unusual or divisive work, and they have utter respect for the filmmakers’ voice, and I couldn’t feel luckier to be releasing ‘Sharp Stick’ under their auspices.”

After its Sundance premiere, some critics hailed its humor and sex-positive approach, but it ended up...

Peter Jackson’s The Beatles: Get Back – The Rooftop Concert is heading back to Imax after a one-day, single-show screening last Sunday — the 52nd anniversary of the band’s iconic 1969 concert. The show and live Q&a with Jackson beamed directly to theaters had its share of sellouts, with audio and visuals about as close as possible to actually joining the band on the roof of their Apple Corps headquarters at 3 Savile Row. Disney and Imax are presenting it again February 9 at 75-80 locations, then on 200 screens starting February 11 through the weekend.

(The concert is also included in its entirety in Jackson’s six-part doc series The Beatles: Get Back, which hit Disney+ last fall. Click video above to play an exclusive clip.)

The film is one of of trio of music documentaries including New Worlds: The Cradle of Civilization and Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché in theaters this weekend.

With Sundance now wrapped up, this month we turn our sights on Berlinale and a number of notable releases arriving both theatrically and digitally. From international Oscar contenders to long-delayed releases to musician-focused docs to our favorite group of jackasses, it’s an eclectic month. See our picks below.

15. The Sky Is Everywhere (Josephine Decker; Feb. 11 in theaters and Apple TV+)

Curiously absent from Sundance and Berlinale is the latest by an alum of both, Josephine Decker. Following Madeline’s Madeline and Shirley, the director is back with The Sky Is Everywhere, which was adapted by Jandy Nelson, based on her novel. Produced by A24 and Apple, it follows a high-schooler who loses her older sister and attempts to regain her footing in life. With the YA material, it looks like Decker is carving a new path; we’re curious to see the results.

14. Taste (Lê Bảo; Feb. 16 on Mubi...

How do you make a documentary about your own mother? And how do you tell that story when you grew up in an unstable environment, with a fractured relationship? That’s the challenge that Celeste Bell faced when crafting “Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché,” a feature-length record of the tumultuous life of her mother, influential early punk rocker Poly Styrene.

Poly Styrene blazed onto Britain’s punk rock scene as an angry teenage cyclone, energized by the creativity and freedom of the music while she confronted racism and sexism as a mixed-race Black woman. But the glory days didn’t last long. After her triumphant entry onto the pop charts, she spent years seeking refuge from fame by joining the Hare Krishna movement while battling mental illness. Her sudden fame and challenging later years are artfully brought to life in the documentary that opens in selected U.S. theaters this week,...

Aleem Khan’s After Love dominated the 2021 British Independent Film Awards, winning six prizes in total including Best British Independent Film.

Khan also took home both Best Director and the Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director, as well as Best Screenplay. Joanna Scanlan won Best Actress and Talid Ariss won Best Supporting Actor for their roles in the movie.

Set in the port town of Dover, the film follows Mary Hussain who suddenly finds herself a widow following the unexpected death of her husband. A day after the burial, she discovers he has a secret just twenty-one miles across the English Channel in Calais.

Khan said at the ceremony: “What the f***?! … Never in my wildest dreams did I think this would be happening tonight. My mum and my dad and family are going to be going nuts. This film, at its core, is about strangers seeing one another.

Aleem Khan’s directorial debut “After Love” dominated the British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) with six wins.

The film, in which a recently widowed woman comes to terms with a shocking secret about her husband’s life won the award for Best British Independent Film, presented by Kate Beckinsale. Khan won three more BIFAs – Best Director, The Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director and Best Screenplay, with Joanna Scanlan winning Best Actress and Talid Ariss Best Supporting Actor for their performances in the film.

Adeel Akhtar won Best Actor for his role in Clio Barnard’s story of forbidden love, “Ali & Ava,” which also saw Connie Farr and Harry Escott scoring the Best Music award.

The Best Supporting Actress award went to Vinette Robinson for her work in Philip Barantini’s single-take restaurant kitchen drama “Boiling Point,” which also received awards for Carolyn McCleod for Best Casting, Matthew Lewis...

Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast” and Philip Barantini’s “Boiling Point” lead nominations at the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA), with 11 nods each.

Nominations for “Belfast,” Branagh’s autobiographical tale of life as a young boy in Belfast in 1969 in the midst of the Troubles, include best actress for Caitríona Balfe, best supporting actress for Judi Dench, best supporting actor for Ciarán Hinds and a breakthrough performance nomination for newcomer Jude Hill in addition to seven craft nominations.

Nominations for single take film “Boiling Point,” which follows an up-and-coming chef under extreme pressure, include best actor for Stephen Graham, best supporting actor for Ray Panthaki, best supporting actress for Vinette Robinson and a breakthrough performance nomination for Lauryn Ajufo.

Aleem Khan’s “After Love,” Prano Bailey-Bond’s “Censor” and Joanna Hogg’s “The Souvenir Part II” have nine nominations each, while Clio Barnard’s “Ali & Ava” has seven nominations, Sean Durkin...

10 films on the list for low-budget independent films.

Harri Shanahan and Sian A. Williams’ documentary Rebel Dykes and Ryan Andrew Hooper’s comedy-thriller The Toll are among the 10 titles longlisted for the Discovery award at the 2021 British Independent Film Awards (Bifas).

Six documentaries make the list, including Annika Ranin and Sean Fee’s Boarders, following a group of British skateboarders on their journey towards the sports Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020. Ranin and Jasmin Morrison are also on the longlist for breakthrough producer, announced as part of the new talent selection earlier this month.

Further documentaries include Celeste Bell and Paul Sng...

Variety Director to Watch Prano Bailey-Bond (“Censor”) and BAFTA-nominated “After Love” filmmaker Aleem Khan are among the 39 filmmakers longlisted in the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) new talent categories.

The 39 longlisted filmmakers will be invited to join BIFA’s Springboard scheme, a tailored program of professional development, peer-to-peer support, mentoring, networking and skills enhancement aimed to nurture emerging talent as they build on the success of their first features.

The final five nominations in each category will be announced on Nov. 3. Winners will be revealed at the ceremony on Dec. 5.

The longlists:

The Douglas Hickox Award

(Best Debut Director)

Aleem Khan – “After Love”

Matt Chambers – “The Bike Thief”

Prano Bailey-Bond – “Censor”

Jonathan Butterell – “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie”

Sonita Gale – “Hostile”

Jack Clough – “People Just Do Nothing: Big In Japan”

Reggie Yates – “Pirates”

Celeste Bell “Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché” [also Directed By Paul Sng]

Corinna Faith – “The Power”

Charlotte Colbert – “She Will...

For a young teenager steeped in grunge, Britpop, and the Beatles, the discovery of 1970s UK punk rock was tantamount to a swift slap in the face—and a glorious one, at that. And one of the crucial pieces of pre-internet background information was England’s Dreaming, Jon Savage’s indispensable study of the era. The book is full of memorable figures—none more so than Poly Styrene. She is only a minor player in Savage’s text, but few resonate more. The author explains that “Poly was a star, with her dayglo clothes, multi-racial background, teeth braces, and surreal songs which wittily commented on that very process of consumption and packaging that she was at once celebrating and transcending.”

All of these elements and many others are represented in the long-in-the-works documentary Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché, which makes its Canadian premiere at Hot Docs 2021. The timing is apropos.

Demi Lovato’s new docuseries has been set as the opening night headliner at the 2021 South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival.

South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference and Festivals announced that the YouTube Originals docuseries “Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil,” directed by Michael D. Ratner, will make its world premiere and kick off the 2021 online event, which runs March 16-20.

In the project (which is set to debut on YouTube in March), Lovato opens up for the first time about her nearly fatal overdose, dissecting every aspect that led to the 2018 incident and her awakenings in the aftermath. Lovato is said to have granted Ratner “unprecedented access to [her] personal and musical journey during the most trying time of her life as she unearthed her prior traumas and discovered the importance of her physical, emotional, and mental health.” A description of the project paints it as, “far deeper than an inside look beyond the celebrity surface,...