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The martial arts crime drama series Warrior is the posthumous realization of a vision by one of the best-known action stars of all time. Originally conceived by Bruce Lee, who wrote a treatment for the project before his 1973 passing, Warrior was finally brought to life by a team of filmmakers including Jonathan Tropper and Shannon Lee. The series ran for two seasons on Cinemax until, after a long delay and much anticipation, it found a new home on Max for a third.

Since season 1, the adrenaline-fueled ups and dramatic downs of Warrior have been complemented by a musical score from H. Scott Salinas and Reza Safinia. Salinas and Safinia have pulled from their own diverse musical backgrounds to create a soundtrack perfectly suited for Warrior; Salinas is an acclaimed composer with projects like The Fourth Estate and Sea of Shadows under his belt, while Safinia has a history of collaborating...

Exclusive: Julia Butters (The Fabelmans), Jacob Tremblay (Room), Martin Freeman (Fargo) and Taylor Schilling (Pam & Tommy) have been tapped as the leads for the folk horror film Queen of Bones, from Appian Way, Lumanity Productions and Productivity Media, which has entered production in Canada.

Queen of Bones follows twin siblings Lily (Butters) and Sam (Tremblay) who live at a remote homestead with their widowed father, Malcolm (Freeman), a violinmaker in 1931 Oregon. When Lily and Sam find an Icelandic spell book in the cellar, they begin to suspect a connection between their mother’s death and dark forces in the woods. They then embark on a dangerous mission to force their father and his friend, Ida May (Schilling), to reveal the truth.

Robert Budreau (Delia’s Gone) is directing from a script by Michael Burgner (The Darkest Corner of Paradise).

Queen of Bones is the latest project to reteam Budreau with Productivity Media,...

Update: That didn’t take long. The deal for Fire of Love is now closed, Deadline has confirmed. Release is below our acquisitions scoop.

Exclusive: National Geographic Documentary Films is closing a mid-seven-figure worldwide rights deal for Fire of Love, the Sara Dosa-directed documentary that opened the festival and created a stampede of bidders in what is the first deal on the virtual ground here. This will be a significant theatrical release for later this year.

As Deadline reported yesterday, bidding began shortly after the film’s Thursday premiere screening. Netflix, Nat Geo, Paramount, Sony Pictures Classics, IFC, Universal and Amazon all were in the mix on this one. Submarine is brokering the deal.

The film focuses on Katia and Maurice Krafft and their love of each other, and getting as close as possible to fiery volcanoes. For two decades, the daring French volcanologist couple was seduced by the...

Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, Terra Mater Factual Studios looks back on an eventful decade that made its name synonymous with high-end nature and wildlife productions, while also embracing the ever-expanding opportunities offered by the growth of streaming platforms.

The Austrian company’s productions include Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani’s acclaimed “The Ivory Game,” which exposes the dark world of ivory trafficking; Ladkani’s “Sea of Shadows,” about the efforts to save the smallest whale species in the world from extinction; and Myles Connolly and Florian Schulz’s upcoming “The Arctic: Our Last Great Wilderness.” CEO Walter Koehler, the former head of Austrian broadcaster Orf’s nature and wildlife unit, Universum, established Terra Mater as a subsidiary of Red Bull in 2011.

“When I opened the company 10 years ago, we started with 12 or 13 people; now we have more than 40 employees,” he says. The figure does not include the many...

Anthony Fauci, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease who became the top U.S. medical official addressing the coronavirus pandemic, is getting the feature documentary treatment.

National Geographic Documentary Films said Monday that Emmy winners John Hoffman and Janet Tobias will direct Fauci, which through exclusive access promises to offer a glimpse into the career and life of the public servant who has advised seven U.S. presidents beginning with the AIDS pandemic in the 1980s and through Sars, Ebola and now Covid-19.

The film will be produced by Alexandra Moss. For Story Syndicate, executive producers are Icarus Oscar winner Dan Cogan, What Happened, Miss Simone?‘s Liz Garbus and All In: The Fight for Democracy’s Jon Bardin.

Fauci is the longest-serving public health leader in Washington, DC, and has testified before Congress more than any other single person in U.S. history.

With such a wide array of potential awards contenders in film and television, awards groups like the Cinema Eye Honors help to cull the field. This year, HBO Documentary Films leads the broadcast categories with 10 nominations, including three each for Liz Garbus’ serial killer series “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark” and David France’s Oscar contender “Welcome to Chechnya.” Cinema Eye also unveiled 10 short documentary semifinalists for the short filmmaking honors.

The Outstanding Broadcast Film nominees also include “Bully. Coward. Victim.: The Story of Roy Cohn,” directed by Ivy Meeropol, 2020 Oscar winner “Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl),” directed by Carol Dysinger, “Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese,” and “Sea of Shadows,” directed by Richard Ladkani.

Outstanding Series Nominees include “Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children,” directed by Joshua Bennett, Maro Chermayeff, Jeff Dupre, and Sam Pollard, “Hillary,...

With such a wide array of potential awards contenders in film and television, awards groups like the Cinema Eye Honors help to cull the field. This year, HBO Documentary Films leads the broadcast categories with 10 nominations, including three each for Liz Garbus’ serial killer series “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark” and David France’s Oscar contender “Welcome to Chechnya.” Cinema Eye also unveiled 10 short documentary semifinalists for the short filmmaking honors.

The Outstanding Broadcast Film nominees also include “Bully. Coward. Victim.: The Story of Roy Cohn,” directed by Ivy Meeropol, 2020 Oscar winner “Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl),” directed by Carol Dysinger, “Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese,” and “Sea of Shadows,” directed by Richard Ladkani.

Outstanding Series Nominees include “Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children,” directed by Joshua Bennett, Maro Chermayeff, Jeff Dupre, and Sam Pollard, “Hillary,...

David France’s “Welcome to Chechnya,” a documentary about LGBTQ activists trying to help during the Chechnya government’s brutal crackdown on gays and lesbians, leads all films in nominations in the Cinema Eye Honors’ broadcast categories, which were announced on Thursday during a virtual edition of its annual fall lunch.

Cinema Eye, a New York-based organization founded in 2007 to recognize all aspects of nonfiction filmmaking, also announced its new Stay Focused initiative. The program spotlights 12 films by up-and-coming filmmakers who lost the chance for theatrical exhibition and film-festival exposure because of the coronavirus pandemic. Cinema Eye has pledged to find “in-person opportunities” for the filmmakers once the pandemic subsides, starting with theatrical screenings at the new Vidiots Theatre in Los Angeles in late 2021.

The 12 films include Cecilia Aldorondo’s “Landfall,” which recently won a jury award at Doc NYC; David Osit’s “Mayor,” about the Christian mayor of a...

The Imagen Foundation crowned the past year’s best Latino stars and television, film titles on Thursday at the 35th annual Imagen Awards.

The annual awards show, which has gone virtual this year due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, seeks to award Hollywood titles that highlight stories that reflect the Latino community and Latino stars who have shined on screen. The Imagen Awards also seeks to promote, diversity, equity and inclusion in storytelling.

Diego Luna, Jennifer Lopez and Isabela Merced were among the stars taking home awards at the virtual ceremony. Dora and the Lost City of Gold took home a total of three awards during Thursday’s awards show, hosted by Aida Rodriguez.

Sergio, Hustlers and Law & Order: Svu were also among the winners at Thursday’s virtual awards ceremony, which streamed live on The Young Turks YouTube channel.

Read the complete list of winners for the 2020 Imagen Awards below.

The Primetime Emmys take place on September 20 and air live coast-to-coast on ABC. But the majority of awards are handed out at the five Creative Arts Emmy ceremonies that take place in the week leading up to TV’s biggest night. The Creative Arts trophies will be awarded at five events on: September 14 (reality and nonfiction; Sept. 15 (variety); Sept. 16; Sept. 17 and Sept. 19 (mix). The first four of these will stream live on Emmys.com while the last will air on Fxx.

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has forced TV productions, film shoots and entertainment events to shut down all year to slow the spread of the easily transmitted disease, all of this year’s Emmy ceremonies will be held virtually. While Jimmy Kimmel emcees just one show — the Emmys next Sunday — Best Reality Host nominee Nicole Byer (“Nailed It”) has been tapped to preside over all five of the Creative Arts awards.

Updated: Apple has signed a first-look television deal with Appian Way, the production company founded by Leonardo DiCaprio.

The multi-year deal will see Appian Way develop television projects for Apple. DiCaprio and Appian Way, which is co-run by Jennifer Davisson, already have two projects set up at the streamer — the feature “Killers of the Flower Moon” directed by Martin Scorsese and starring DiCaprio, as well as the thriller series “Shining Girls” which DiCaprio will executive produce and in which Elisabeth Moss will star.

Appian Way has previously produced a number of DiCaprio’s films, including “The Revenant,” “The Wolf of Wall Street,” “The Aviator,” and “Shutter Island.” The company’s other credits include features like “Out of the Furnace” and “The Ides of March,” and also documentaries like “Virunga,” “Cowspiracy,” “Sea of Shadows,” “Ice on Fire,” and “And We Go Green.” On the TV side, Appian Way recently produced the...

Apple has signed a multi-year, first-look deal with Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way Productions.

The deal with Appian Way, which is co-run by Jennifer Davisson, covers both film and TV projects.

DiCaprio is already set to star in Martin Scorsese’s film for the streaming service, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” and is a producer on Elisabeth Moss’s upcoming thriller “Shining Girls.”

Also Read: Oprah Winfrey to Host New Interview Show at Apple TV+

DiCaprio joins a stable of Apple producers including Oprah Winfrey, Idris Elba, Alfonso Cuaron, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Justin Lin, Kerry Ehrin, Jason Katims, Lee Eisenberg, Monica Beletsky, Sharon Horgan, Alena Smith and Simon Kinberg.

“Killers of the Flower Moon” is an adaptation of David Grann’s non-fiction book from 2017. Grann’s non-fiction story is set in the 1920s and follows the richest people per capita in the world at the time, the members of Osage Nation in Oklahoma.

It’s with no disrespect to any of this year’s other Emmy-nominated cinematographers that I say no one else went as far to capture their footage than Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, who are nominated for Best Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program for lensing the CNN documentary “Apollo 11.” They literally went to the moon and back. Can the legendary astronauts, who are 90-years-old and 89-years-old, respectively, be rewarded in 2020 for their historic footage?

“Apollo 11” revisited the events surrounding the title mission on the 50th anniversary of the human race’s first ever moon landing. The film is composed entirely of archival footage, some of which had never been released to the public, that was edited together by Todd Douglas Miller, who also directed the film. It was also a contender for film awards earlier this year, earning BAFTA, Independent Spirit and Gotham Award nominations in addition to...

Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way and In Good Company Films are developing the utopian series “Island,” based on Aldous Huxley’s novel “Island.”

Huxley’s final book, published in 1962, follows a cynical journalist shipwrecked on the fictional utopian island of Pala in the Indian Ocean. Originally tasked with exploiting Pala’s natural resources, he uncovers an independently developed society and embraces the people, their culture and traditions — including psychedelic adventures and alternative social structures. His experience alters the course of his mission.

Huxlery wrote “Island” as the utopian counterpoint to his most famous work, the 1932 dystopian novel, “Brave New World.” “Island” explores the themes of freedom and the power of human potential. Huxley died of cancer in 1963.

Davisson and DiCaprio will executive produce for Appian Way along with George DiCaprio and Roee Sharon. Andrew Alter and Jason Whitmore will executive produce for Igc Films.

Appian Way launched in 2004 as a...

It’s been a year of change for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which has responded not only to the pandemic, pushing back the global ABC Oscars telecast from February 28 to April 25, 2021 — setting a new award season calendar as other award shows have followed suit — but the urgency of the Black Lives Matter movement.

In its continuing push to swell the Academy membership ranks, 819 artists and executives from 68 countries have been invited to join this year. The branches have increasingly actively sought eligible people to become Academy members, but the Board of Governors makes the final call. People from underrepresented ethnic/racial communities (36 percent) and women (45 percent) are among the many invites, as the Academy continues to address its long-term white-male dominance. As always, actors make up the largest branch of the Academy, but many new members (49 percent) also come from overseas.

In 2019, the Academy invited 842 new members,...

It’s been a year of change for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which has responded not only to the pandemic, pushing back the global ABC Oscars telecast from February 28 to April 25, 2021 — setting a new award season calendar as other award shows have followed suit — but the urgency of the Black Lives Matter movement.

In its continuing push to swell the Academy membership ranks, 819 artists and executives from 68 countries have been invited to join this year. The branches have increasingly actively sought eligible people to become Academy members, but the Board of Governors makes the final call. People from underrepresented ethnic/racial communities (36 percent) and women (45 percent) are among the many invites, as the Academy continues to address its long-term white-male dominance. As always, actors make up the largest branch of the Academy, but many new members (49 percent) also come from overseas.

In 2019, the Academy invited 842 new members,...

National Geographic Networks has greenlighted Consider This, a podcast focused on Emmy season hosted by veteran journalist Stacey Wilson Hunt.

The 12-episode series launched Monday and will feature longform interviews with Nat Geo personalities including Dr. Amani Ballour, Bobby Bones, Jeff Goldblum, Dr. Jane Goodall, Bear Grylls, Marcia Gay Harden, Keegan-Michael Key, Gordon Ramsay, David Thewlis and Neil deGrasse Tyson.

It also will take Emmy voters inside such shows as Cosmos: Possible Worlds, The Cave, Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted, Life Below Zero, Barkskins and Sea of Shadows with interviews of their showrunners and producers.

“We are a network that’s built on incredible storytelling,” said Christopher Albert, EVP Marketing Strategy and Global Communications for National Geographic and National Geographic Documentary Films. “In this most untraditional of Emmy seasons, we wanted to find a way to bring our amazing talent from both in front of and behind the camera directly to the...

National Geographic is getting into the Emmy Fyc podcast game. The network has launched “Consider This,” a new 12-episode series that will feature stars and producers from Nat Geo’s Emmy contenders.

Guests will include Marcia Gay Harden, Dr. Amani Ballour (“The Cave”), Jeff Goldblum (“The World According to Jeff Goldblum”), Dr. Jane Goodall (“Sea of Shadows”), Bear Grylls (“Running Wild with Bear Grylls”), Keegan-Michael Key (“Brain Games”), Gordon Ramsay (“Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted”), David Thewlis (“Barkskins”), Neil deGrasse Tyson (“Cosmos: Possible Worlds”) and Sue Aikens (“Life Below Zero”). Journalist Stacey Wilson Hunt hosts the podcast.

“Consider This” will be available to download starting Monday via Apple, Spotify, Radio.com, TuneIn, Deezer, Stitcher, Google Play, Overcast and Pocketcast.The first episode features Tyson, followed by one with Key.

Other interviewees include Ann Druyan (“Cosmos: Possible Worlds”), Sigrid Dyekjær (“The Cave”), Jon Kroll (“Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted”), Joseph Litzinger (“Life Below Zero”) and...

On Thursday, May 21, National Geographic and Nat Geo Wild announced their slate of new and returning programs for the 2020-2021 TV season. So what offerings can we expect from the multimedia platform?

See‘Barkskins’ premiere announced: Nat Geo sets spring air date for limited series with David Thewlis and Marcia Gay Harden

For starters we’ll finally get to see “Genius: Aretha,” although no official date his been announced. The third season of the anthology series, which previously explored the lives and careers of scientist Albert Einstein and painter Pablo Picasso, stars Emmy, Tony and Grammy winner Cynthia Erivo as legendary soul singer Aretha Franklin. It was originally supposed to premiere this spring but was pushed forward due to the coronavirus pandemic. Nat Geo now plans for it to drop this fall.

The cable net is also teaming with “American Idol” mentor and “Dancing with the Stars” champ Bobby Bones...

The Peabody Awards on Wednesday unveiled nominations repping the most compelling and empowering stories released in broadcasting and digital media during 2019. PBS tops the nominees list with 11 noms including several the Documentaries category via its Pov series.

Other nominees include HBO’s Emmy winners Succession and Chernobyl, Netflix’s Stranger Things and When They See Us, Amazon’s Fleabag, Hulu’s Ramy, Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly and Apple’s Dickinson. Also in the mix is Ronan Farrow’s podcast based on his book Catch and Kill.

The news comes after the Peabodys in March were forced to cancel its in-person awards ceremony, which had been scheduled for June 18 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Los Angeles. It put a halt to plans to hold the ceremony in Southern California for the first time.

The group, based at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia,...

“Fleabag,” “Stranger Things,” “Succession,” “Ramy,” “Watchmen” and “When They See Us” are among the nominees for the 2020 Peabody Awards, which recognizes the best of digital and broadcast media for the year. The six programs were among a crowded field of 13 contenders in the entertainment category.

Of this year’s 60 total nominations, PBS and HBO lead the pack with 11 and seven nominations, respectively. They were followed by Netflix with five, Amazon with three) and Showtime, CNN, NBC News, and the podcast company Pineapple Street Studios with two each. 30 winners will be named at a later date, as the traditional ceremony has been canceled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Peabody Awards are based at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. This year’s nominees encompass a range of today’s most pressing topics, including the criminal justice system, repercussions of the #MeToo movement,...

“Chernobyl,” “Fleabag,” “Ramy,” “Stranger Things,” “Succession,” “Unbelievable,” “Watchmen” and “When They See Us” are among the 13 entertainment series nominated for this year’s Peabody Awards.

The Peabody Awards Board of Jurors on Wednesday announced this year’s nominees for entertainment, children’s and youth, documentaries, news, podcast/radio, and public service. A total of 60 nominees were revealed as representing “the most compelling and empowering stories released in broadcasting and digital media during 2019.”

PBS leads the nominations with 11, followed by HBO with seven. Netflix (five), Amazon (three), and Showtime, CNN, NBC News and the podcast company Pineapple Street Studios (two each) follow.

Other entertainment nominees include “David Makes Man” (Own’s first-ever Peabody nominee), “Good Omens” and “Our Boys.” And in their inaugural year of service, both Apple TV Plus (“Dickinson”) and Disney Plus (the animated short “Float”) both received nods.

Of the 60 nominations, the Peabody Awards will name 30 winners at another date,...

The Peabody Awards Board of Jurors announced this year’s crop of nominees today, earmarking 60 stories from the nearly 1,300 entries for distinction. With an eye towards empowerment, the organization celebrates the finest in broadcasting and digital media, including television, radio/podcasts, and the web, in entertainment, news, documentary, children’s and public service programming.

TV series nominees (which aired in 2019) include Emmy hopefuls, both old and new, with HBO’s “Chernobyl” (10 Emmy wins) and Amazon Prime Video’s “Fleabag,” (six Emmy wins) both getting nods, and HBO’s “Watchmen” and “Succession,” along with Netflix’s “Unbelievable,” also getting mentions. For the most part, the organization is celebrating lots of new blood, with Netflix’s “Stranger Things” the only repeat nominee.

PBS dominated Wednesday’s nominees with 11, including six specifically for its “Pov” documentary series. HBO followed with seven noms, followed by Netflix with five, Prime Video with three, and Showtime,...

In a Gold Derby exclusive, we have learned the category placements of the key Emmy Awards contenders for National Geographic. For this season, the network has the new limited series “Barkskins”, documentaries “The Cave” and “Sea of Shadows,” nonfiction series “Cosmos: Possible Worlds,” “Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted,” “The World According to Jeff Goldblum” and more as part of their 2020 campaign.

Below, the Nat Geo list of submissions for all of their programs. More names might be added by the network on the final Emmy ballot. Also note that performers not included on this list may well be submitted by their personal reps.

See‘Barkskins’ premiere announced: Nat Geo sets spring air date for limited series with David Thewlis and Marcia Gay Harden

“Barkskins”

Limited Series

Limited Actor – David Thewlis

Limited Supporting Actress – Marcia Gay Harden

“Born Wild: The Next Generation”

Variety Special (Pre-Recorded)

“Brain Games”

Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special

“The Cave...

AMC has greenlighted National Anthem, an eight-episode musical dramedy anthology series from writer/director Scott Z. Burns, and Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul executive producer Mark Johnson. Oscar and Grammy winning musician T Bone Burnett (Crazy Heart) is attached as the series’ music producer with words and music by The Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn

National Anthem is the first series greenlit under a new multi-year overall deal Johnson has signed with AMC Studios, under which he will develop new series for the company’s Entertainment Group as well as other content companies.

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Written by Burns, National Anthem is the tragically funny story of a middle class midwestern family...

“Ford v Ferrari ” won the top prize, Sound Editing (Effects and Foley), at the Golden Reel Awards bestowed by the Motion Picture Sound Editors (Mpse) on Sunday. One of its Oscar rivals for Best Sound Editing, “1917,” picked up Dialogue & Adr.

“Parasite” continued its winning ways with the guild and claimed the Foreign language prize. “Rocketman” won the musical race, “Jojo Rabbit” nabbed the musical underscore award and “Toy Story” took animation.

Fans of the other three Oscar nominees for Best Sound Editing– “Joker,” “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” should not be too disheartened. This guild’s track record at predicting the eventual winner at the Academy Awards is spotty. Last year, all five of the Oscar nominees for Best Sound Editing numbered among the Mpse contenders. Eventual Oscar winner “Bohemian Rhapsody” did not contend in the category equivalent — Sound Effects and Foley.

The sailing documentary “Maiden” and the chronicle of the first trip to the moon, “Apollo 11,” are among the 15 titles that made this year’s shortlist for the Oscars’ Best Documentary Feature race.

The shortlist also included two films about Syria, “For Sama” and “The Cave”; the first film produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company, “American Factory”; and the Macedonian beekeeping documentary “Honeyland,” which also made the shortlist in the Oscars’ Best International Feature Film category.

Also on the list: “One Child Nation,” “The Great Hack,” “The Edge of Democracy,” “The Biggest Little Farm,” “Midnight Family,” “Knock Down the House,” “The Apollo,” “Advocate” and “Aquarela.”

As it has been since the Oscars’ Documentary Branch opened shortlist voting to all members and did away with small committees, the list contained most...

“Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” and “Joker” led all films in nominations for the 67th annual Mpse Golden Reel Awards, the Motion Picture Sound Editors announced on Monday.

Those two films each received three nominations in the Golden Reel’s seven film categories, including Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Effects/Foley, the category that most closely corresponds to the Oscars Best Sound Editing category.

Other nominees in that category were “Ford v Ferrari,” “1917,” “Avengers: Endgame,” “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum,” “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” and “A Hidden Life.”

Also Read: Cinema Audio Society Likes the Sound of 'Ford v Ferrari,' 'Joker,' 'The Irishman'

“Ford v Ferrari,” “Jojo Rabbit,” “1917,” “Rocketman,” “Avengers: Endgame,” “Frozen II” and “Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese” received two nominations each.

In the television categories, “Game of Thrones” and “Vikings” each received three nominations,...

All five of our predicted Oscar nominees for Best Sound Editing number among the contenders for the Golden Reel Awards bestowed by the Motion Picture Sound Editors (Mpse). Oscar frontrunner “1917” reaped two bids across the seven film categories as did two of its closest Oscar rivals — “Avengers: Endgame” and “Ford v Ferrari.” The other two expected Oscar nominees — “Ad Astra” and and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” — are single nominees.

However, we might be underestimating “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and “Joker,” which we have in eighth and nine place respectively at the Academy Awards; they earned a leading three nominations from these precursor prizes. Winners of the 67th annual Golden Reel Awards will be revealed on January 17, 2020

Last year, all five of the Oscar nominees for Best Sound Editing numbered among the Mpse contenders. Eventual Oscar winner “Bohemian Rhapsody” did not contend in the category equivalent — Sound Effects and Foley.

A nonprofit group of professional sound and music editors, the Motion Picture Sound Editors today announced the nominees for the 67th annual Mpse Golden Reel Awards. Nominees represent the past year’s best feature film, television, animation, computer entertainment, and student productions.

On the film side, these nominations set the stage for what to expect across the sound categories at the Academy Awards. “Joker” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” lead the film side with three nominations each.

Winners across 23 categories will be unveiled on Sunday, January 19 at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown La.

2020 Mpse Filmmaker Award

Victoria Alonso

2020 Mpse Career Achievement Award

Cecelia “Cece” Hall

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Feature Animation

Toy Story 4

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

Frozen 2

Missing Link

Abominable

The Lion King

White Snake

Spies in Disguise

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Dialogue / Adr

Once Upon a Time in...

Syrian Civil War diary “For Sama” has won the best feature award from the International Documentary Association for Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts.

The award was presented by Frances Fisher on Saturday night at the 35th Annual Ida Documentary Awards at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles.

The first-time award for Best Director went to Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert for “American

Factory,” which explores a Chinese company taking over a shuttered General Motors plant in Dayton, Ohio. The film was acquired by Netflix in association with Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions following its premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.

“Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé,” directed by Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Ed Burke, won the Best Music Documentary. The film centers on Beyoncé’s performance at the 2018 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Beyoncé also wrote and executive produced the film, which premiered on Netflix on April 17.

HBO’s “Leaving Neverland,...

While a few lauded Sundance Film Festival titles like “The Farewell” and “The Report” still seek 2020 awards attention, the 2019 narrative selection became more talent discovery than Oscar launchpad as heated buys like “Late Night” and “Brittany Runs a Marathon” fizzled at the box office. For the documentary section, however, it’s a different story.

While Sundance’s nonfiction program has always been strong, it’s now becoming the festival’s premier showcase. The intensely competitive Sundance doc selections yield a high percentage of Oscar nominations, including four out of last year’s final five. Many of this year’s doc contenders debuted at Sundance 2019, including Gotham Awards winner “American Factory,” “Apollo 11,” “Edge of Democracy,” New York Film Critics Circle winner “Honeyland,” “Knock Down the House,” “One Child Nation,” and “Sea of Shadows.”

Sundance’s fictional narratives remain impressive, producing a countless number that generate great reviews, and launch careers across the industry spectrum.

While a few lauded Sundance Film Festival titles like “The Farewell” and “The Report” still seek 2020 awards attention, the 2019 narrative selection became more talent discovery than Oscar launchpad as heated buys like “Late Night” and “Brittany Runs a Marathon” fizzled at the box office. For the documentary section, however, it’s a different story.

While Sundance’s nonfiction program has always been strong, it’s now becoming the festival’s premier showcase. The intensely competitive Sundance doc selections yield a high percentage of Oscar nominations, including four out of last year’s final five. Many of this year’s doc contenders debuted at Sundance 2019, including Gotham Awards winner “American Factory,” “Apollo 11,” “Edge of Democracy,” New York Film Critics Circle winner “Honeyland,” “Knock Down the House,” “One Child Nation,” and “Sea of Shadows.”

Sundance’s fictional narratives remain impressive, producing a countless number that generate great reviews, and launch careers across the industry spectrum.

The UK Jewish Film Festival winners have been revealed. The Best Debut Feature Award has gone to Leona, directed by Isaac Cherem. The Spanish-language Mexican film, which received its UK premiere at the event, follows a young Jewish woman from Mexico City who finds herself torn between her family and her forbidden love with a non-Jewish man. The Dorfman Best Film Award went to Polish film Dolce Fine Giornata, directed by Jacek Borcuch. Pic charts how the stable family life of a poetess begins to fall apart as she makes a controversial speech. The movie beat out other titles Flawless, Jojo Rabbit, My Polish Honeymoon, Stripped and The Unorthodox. The Best Documentary Award winner has been announced as Advocate, directed by Philippe Bellaiche and Rachel Leah Jones. The film is a look at the life and work of Jewish-Israeli lawyer Lea Tsemel who has represented political prisoners for nearly 50 years.

In today’s film news roundup, “Roma” is getting a DVD release, Joaquin Phoenix backs an animal rights documentary, Humanitas announces nominations and “The Wretched” finds a home.

Roma DVD

Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” has become the first Netflix movie to get a Blu-Ray and DVD release, thanks to the Criterion Collection launching a special edition in February.

The release will include five separate documentaries about the creation of the film, and will feature the same 4K master and Dolby Atmos sound that were in the theatrical release. The movie won Academy Awards for Cuaron’s directing and cinematography along with the foreign-language film Oscar.

“Roma” follows Yalitza Aparicio, who plays a live-in housekeeper in the middle-class neighborhood of Roma in Mexico City. It became Mexico’s first winner of the Oscar for foreign-language feature. The pic, produced by Esperanto Filmoj and Participant Media, joined foreign-language movies “Life Is Beautiful,...

Finalists have been revealed for the 2020 Humanitas Prize, which honors film and television writers whose work inspires compassion, hope, and understanding in the human family. Titles include awards-season heavies Bombshell, It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood and The Farewell on the film side and When They See Us, Pose, This Is Us and The Handmaid’s Tale on the small-screen side.

It’s the 45th year for the honors that hands out awards in 10 categories — two new categories, Limited Series, TV Movie or Special and Short Film, are newcomers this year.

Winners will be announced at the 45th annual Humanitas Prize ceremony January 24, 2020 at the Beverly Hilton.

Here are this year’s finalists:

Drama Feature Film

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood

Written by Micah Fitzerman-Blue & Noah Harpster; inspired by the article “Can You Say… Hero?” by Tom Junod

A Hidden Life

Written and directed by Terrence Malick...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has unveiled the 159 documentary features that have been submitted for the 92nd annual Academy Awards.

A shortlist of 15 films will be announced on Dec. 16. Nominations will be announced on Jan. 13. The winners will be revealed on Feb. 9.

High-profile titles include “American Factory,” “The Apollo,” “Apollo 11,” “The Biggest Little Farm,” “Echo in the Canyon,” “The Edge of Democracy,” “For Sama,” “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice,” “One Child Nation,” “Sea of Shadows,” and “Where’s My Roy Cohn?”

AMPAS noted the several of the films have not yet had their required Los Angeles and New York qualifying releases.

“Free Solo” won the documentary Oscar on Feb. 24 for filmmakers Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Evan Hayes, and Shannon Dill.

See the full list below.

Advocate

After Parkland

The All-Americans

Always in Season

The Amazing Johnathan Documentary

American Dharma

American Factory

American Relapse...

A total of 159 documentary features have qualified in the Oscars’ Best Documentary Feature category, the Academy announced on Tuesday.

Last year, 166 documentaries qualified. In 2017, a record 170 made the cut.

All of the films are now available to members of the Documentary Branch to stream on the Academy’s secure members website. The films have been placed there over the last six months, with 23 added to the site in June, 24 in July, 26 in August, 19 in September and 62 in October and only five in November.

Also Read: 'Maiden' Star Tracy Edwards Kept Her Story 'Messy' to Serve the Next Generation of Women Athletes (Video)

Each member is randomly assigned 20% of the films as mandatory viewing but is free to see any additional films beyond those that are assigned. A preliminary round of voting will produce a 15-film shortlist, with a second-round narrowing those 15 to the five nominees.

This year is...

“Apollo 11” was the big winner at the fourth annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards on Sunday in New York City.

The film took home the award for documentary feature, as well as editing for Todd Douglas Miller and score for Matt Morton. “Apollo 11” was also honored with archival documentary and science/nature documentary prizes.

There was a tie for director between Peter Jackson for “They Shall Not Grow Old,” and Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar for “American Factory.” “They Shall Not Grow Old” also brought home the award for innovative documentary. “American Factory” nabbed the prize for political documentary.

The inaugural D. A. Pennebaker Award, formerly known as the Critics’ Choice lifetime achievement award, was presented to Chris Hegedus, Pennebaker’s longtime collaborator and widow. Michael Apted received the landmark award in honor of his “Up” series.

The ceremony, hosted by “Property Brothers” star Jonathan Scott, was held at Bric in Brooklyn.

Last month, the Critics Choice Documentary Awards announced their nominations, beginning to suggest which documentaries could be the Academy Award favorites this year. Tomorrow, the awards show takes place. In case you weren’t aware, The Biggest Little Farm led the field, grabbing seven nominations, while Apollo 11, One Child Nation, and They Shall Not Grow Old scored five apiece. Other potential Oscar contenders sprinkled throughout this precursors include American Factory, The Cave, Knock Down The House, Western Stars, and more. Below you can see all the nominated works, though what really will be interesting to see is what takes home the top prize. A win here for either American Factory, Apollo 11, The Biggest Little Farm, The Cave, Honeyland, The Kingmaker, Knock Down the House, Leaving Neverland, Maiden, One Child Nation, or They Shall Not Grow Old could really be a feather in its awards season cap. Time will tell,...

Timothy Greenfield-Sanders first met Toni Morrison decades ago while working as a photographer. The two struck up a lifelong friendship, and Greenfield-Sanders finally managed to convince Morrison to sit down with him for a documentary about her life and work.

“I broached it with her about five or six years ago and she didn’t say no, which I took as a yes. And as we talked about it, she said things like, ‘Oh, I’m so busy, What do you need from me? What’s it going to require?’ And when she said that I knew I had her. I knew that she’d do it,” he said following a screening of his film at the International Documentary Association’s annual screening series. “I said, ‘I really just need you to do a couple of interviews and to let us have access to your archive and to your personal photographs and things like that.

“Sea of Shadows” is director Richard Ladkani’s second “eco-thriller.” It’s a documentary ostensibly about scientists, activists, and law enforcement agents who are all trying to protect one of the most endangered species on Earth, but it plays more like a popcorn-friendly narrative feature thanks to the fact that Mexican drug cartels and the Chinese mafia are all intertwined in the story.

“Sea of Shadows” follows the intertwined plights of the the Vaquita porpoise and the totoaba fish in the Sea of Cortez as Mexican drug cartels erect illegal gill nets to catch totoaba to export to China, where there is a thriving illegal market for their bladders, which are purported to have medicinal properties. But those nets also catch the extremely endangered vaquita porpoise, posing a threat to the Sea’s entire delicate ecosystem.

The new genre in which the filmmaker has been working is something he and...

Documentaries can give voice to the powerless, focus on issues people have never heard of, and perhaps most importantly, create empathy.

“When I was watching everyone’s films here, I was thinking about how documentary filmmaking is so much about creating empathy,” “The Edge of Democracy” director Petra Costa said at Gold Derby’s Meet the Experts: Documentary panel, moderated by this author (watch above). “We’re empathy machines, the film as a device of creating empathy. … I think documentaries take us back to that place of turning things that happened back into experience because otherwise they just lose themselves in the [repetitiveness] of the events and you don’t have time to digest them and to feel empathy for them.”

Creating empathy was one of Victoria Stone’s goals when she made “The Elephant Queen” with her partner Mark Deeble. The film follows an elephant matriarch, Athena, leading her herd in search of water.

National Geographic’s new documentary “Sea of Shadows,” which will premiere commercial-free on Saturday at 9/8c, is about an endangered animal you’ve probably never heard of: the vaquita. But this is not a simple story of impending extinction. The world’s smallest whale, the vaquita has become collateral damage in an illicit trade between Mexican cartels and the Chinese mob for the swim bladder — aka the “cocaine of the sea” — of another fish, the totoaba, which also resides in the Sea of Cortez with the vaquita off of Baja California.

“We have, in this case, organized crime attacking planet Earth. Very few people know that the wildlife trade is the fourth biggest industry in the world in the black market,” “Sea of Shadows” director Richard Ladkani told Gold Derby at our Meet the Experts: Documentary panel, moderated by this author (watch above). “These organized syndicates around the world are feeding off our precious animals,...

National Geographic will bring viewers on a journey through time and space in the long-awaited “Cosmos: Possible Worlds,” which will debut March 9, 2020.

The new 13-episode edition of “Cosmos” is part of the revival of astronomer Carl Sagan’s beloved 1980 show “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage,” which covered all manner of scientific subjects. A second season, “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey,” introduced the series to a new generation in 2014 and brought astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson on board to host.

Tyson will return to host “Cosmos: Possible Worlds” and he’ll kick off the season on the show’s iconic “Ship of the Imagination” to explore different time periods and a variety of far-flung planets. The show will venture through both time and space, starting at the dawn of the universe and moving to a futuristic 2039 New York World’s Fair, before moving further into the future.

The series is the brainchild of Emmy and Peabody Award-winner Ann Druyan,...

IndieWire hosted its first-ever Consider This Fyc Brunch in honor of the 2019-2020 film awards season Tuesday, where over two dozen filmmakers, craftspeople, and producers discussed their work on the year’s best films in front of an audience of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voters and guild members.

The event at Liaison Restaurant + Lounge in Hollywood was hosted by comedian and actor Sasheer Zamata. IndieWire staff moderated six intimate conversations with the editors, designers, directors, and others behind such films as the Gotham Award-nominated “Marriage Story,” Marvel hit “Avengers: Endgame,” the soon-to-launch Apple TV+’s inaugural film projects “The Elephant Queen” and “The Banker,” four National Geographic documentaries, and more.

“We’re here to celebrate the best films of the year,” IndieWire Editor-in-Chief Dana Harris-Bridson said. “In particular to celebrate the people who make those films possible — and that is the crafts.”

A panel moderated by Toolkit...

Hosted by comedian and actor Sasheer Zamata, IndieWire honored movie awards season with panel discussions featuring many of this year’s contenders on Tuesday, November 5 in Los Angeles with the first-ever IndieWire Consider This Fyc Brunch. IndieWire welcomed attendees comprised of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members, as well as guild members and select press, for a program that explored the art and craft of 2019’s finest filmmaking across fiction and nonfiction features.

With a focus on below-the-line filmmakers, the IndieWire Consider This Fyc Brunch program included: a craft panel discussion with the artists behind “Marriage Story,” “Missing Link,” “Knives Out,” and “The Irishman”; a National Geographic Documentaries panel featuring the filmmakers behind “The Cave,” “The Nightcrawlers,” “Sea of Shadows,” and “Lost and Found”; an Apple Originals panel discussion with the directors of the documentary “The Elephant Queen”; an Amazon Studios panel with craftspeople behind “Honey Boy,” “The Report,...

The documentary Sea of Shadows has gained a prominent advocate as it steams into awards season.

Renowned conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall is praising the film, which tells the story of dramatic efforts to save the last few remaining vaquita whales—an adorable dolphin-like creature native to the Sea of Cortez off Baja California.

“Sea of Shadows is so important,” Goodall, who was not involved in the production of the documentary, tells Deadline. “Not only does it bring awareness about the existence of this little whale, and I must say I’d never heard of it, but in addition to that, those people who are out there trying to save the vaquita, risking their lives.”

Goodall, her gray hair pulled back neatly in a ponytail, held a plush toy vaquita in her lap as she spoke with Deadline at a hotel in West Hollywood.

“I think the importance of the vaquita...

You will get into the holiday spirit, darn it! You will.

It's a Wonderful Lifetime continues with another delightful holiday movie that had you curling up with a cup of hot cocoa and escaping into a world where love and Christmas abounded.

There's no reservation about the pure cuteness of Christmas Reservations.

Gabrielle Solis' husband (Ricardo Chavira from Desperate Housewives) and Sabrina the Teenage Witch (Melissa Joan Hart) were in love.

As if the movie didn't have instant bonus points for all the references to Western and Upstate New York, it had a fun, quirky cast of characters and multiple love stories with happy endings.

Related: No Time Like Christmas Review: Easing Into the Christmas Spirit! 

Love came in many different forms too. Who says you can't fall in love in a week? You can with the magic of Christmas!

In a surprise move, the movie didn't waste any time...

You are invited to attend our Q&a discussion with three of film’s top composers (songwriting and scores) who now compete for Oscars and more. Our event is on Wednesday, November 6, at 7:00 p.m. at the Landmark Theater at 10850 W. Pico Blvd. in Los Angeles. Admission and parking are free. Academy and guild members will get priority seating.

To RSVP, make your reservation here: https://goldderbycomposerspanel19.splashthat.com/

Gold Derby managing editor Joyce Eng will moderate this “Meet the Film Experts” panel with the following contenders for 2019/2020 awards consideration:

H. Scott Salinas represents Apple for “The Banker” (score)

Salinas won Bmi TV Music Awards for “Murder in the First” and the Jerry Goldsmith Award for “The Ivory Game.” Other films have included “The Square,” “Cartel Land” and “Sea of Shadows.”

Justin Tranter represents Netflix for “Klaus” (song: “Invisible”)

Tranter received a Grammy nomination for the Julia Michaels song “Issues.