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The 31st edition of Sheffield DocFest will open with the world premiere of Kevin Macdonald’s Klitschko: More Than A Fight, at Sheffield City Hall on June 12.

The Sky Original film follows brothers and former heavyweight boxers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko as Vitali moves from the ring to political office, leading the defence of Kyiv as its mayor when Ukraine was attacked by Russian forces in February 2022.

The film combines present-day footage shot in Ukraine, the US and Germany, with personal archive material from the Klitschko family.

It is produced by Docsville Studios and Sky Studios, and will be broadcast...

The Sheffield DocFest will open with Academy Award-winning director Kevin Macdonald’s latest doc Klitschko: More Than a Fight, while Roger Ross Williams, the first African American director to win an Academy Award, is Guest of Honor.

Sky’s doc about the notorious Ukrainian boxing brothers will take audiences into the lives of former heavyweight world champion Vitali Klitschko and Wladimir, who were prominent in the industry for more than a decade. Vitali is now the longest-serving Mayor of Kyiv, and the feature-length documentary will chart his journey from the ring to defending the city from Russian forces. The film, produced by Docsville Studios and Sky Studios, will be broadcast on Sky Documentaries in the UK and other Sky territories including Germany later this year.

“Like many people around the world I was shocked and outraged by the aggression, murder and wanton destruction of the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” said...

As cultural institutions crank out their various “Best of 2023” lists, there’s one year-end list that always feels especially poignant. The Library of Congress has announced its 2023 class of additions to the National Film Registry — a collection of titles that the United States National Film Preservation Board has deemed as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” This year, additions include Home Alone (1990), Lady and the Tramp (1955), Love & Basketball (2000), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), and more.

“Films are an integral piece of America’s cultural heritage, reflecting stories of our nation for more than 125 years,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. “We’re grateful to the film community for collaborating with the Library in our goal to preserve the heritage of cinema.” Among this aforementioned film community, the Library of Congress Blog highlighted Spike Lee’s fifth entry into the registry with his 2000 satire Bamboozled, as well...

A new batch of classic films have made their way into the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry this week, including Henry Selick’s The Nightmare Before Christmas!

This year’s new lineup of films that have been deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” also includes James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgement Day!

The National Film Registry says of The Nightmare Before Christmas, “The king of dark whimsy, Tim Burton won over an even larger (and decidedly younger) crowd with this delightful stop-motion animated offering. Jack Skellington, whose giant pumpkin head rests precariously on top of his rail-thin body, is the king of Halloween Town; one year he dreams of bringing a little Christmas magic to his humble hamlet. Conceived and produced by Burton (with direction by Henry Selick), Nightmare features creative set design to construct an imaginary world, songs by Danny Elfman and the voice talents of Chris Sarandon,...

The Library of Congress National Film Registry has just inducted 25 new films, ranging from beloved fan favorites to esteemed cinematic classics. In a holiday-themed twist, Chris Columbus’ “Home Alone” and Tim Burton’s “Nightmare Before Christmas” are among the inductees, along with films by Spike Lee, Steve McQueen, Ron Howard, Ang Lee, and James Cameron.

Twenty-five influential films were selected “for their cultural, historic or aesthetic importance to preserve the nation’s film heritage,” per the official press release. The 2023 selections date back more than 100 years to a 1921 Kodak educational film titled “A Movie Trip Through Filmland” about how film stock is produced and the impact of movies globally, as well as Oscar-winning films “20 Feet From Stardom” and “12 Years a Slave.”

The public submitted 6,875 titles for consideration this year, with “Home Alone” and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” garnering significant support. The total number of films in the registry...

Whenever films reach a certain point of cultural, historical or aesthetic significance, they get added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. The movies are preserved for their contribution to the nation’s film heritage. Deadline reveals the 25 films that have been selected this year include Apollo 13, Home Alone and Lady and the Tramp, Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet; James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Gina Prince-Bythewood’s Love & Basketball, Spike Lee’s Bamboozled, and Steve McQueen’s Best Picture Oscar winner 12 Years a Slave.

Ron Howard commented on his Apollo 13 film’s inclusion, “It’s a very honest, heartfelt reflection of something that was very American, which was the space program in that time and what it meant to the country and to the world… I was very proud of the outcome. The experience remains an absolute highlight. It was...

Since 1989, the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress has been accomplishing the important task of preserving films that “represent important cultural, artistic and historic achievements in filmmaking.” From films way back in 1897 all the way up to 2013, they’ve now reached 875 films that celebrate our heritage and encapsulate our film history.

Today they’ve unveiled their 2023 list, which includes Spike Lee’s Bamboozled, Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet, Gina Prince-Bythewood’s Love & Basketball, John Sayles’ Matewan, and more.

“The National Film Registry is an essential American enterprise that officially recognizes the rich depth and variety, the eloquence and the real greatness of American cinema and the filmmakers who have created it, film by film,” said Scorsese.

Check out the list of this year’s additions below, the full list here, and...

The Library of Congress has unveiled its annual list of 25 movies to be added to the National Film Registry. The films selected each year are noted for their cultural, historic or aesthetic importance to preserve the nation’s film heritage.

Among the titles making the cut this year are Ron Howard’s space drama Apollo 13; family classics Home Alone and Lady and the Tramp; Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet; James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day;’ Gina Prince-Bythewood’s Love & Basketball; Spike Lee’s Bamboozled; and Steve McQueen’s Best Picture Oscar winner 12 Years a Slave. (Scroll down for the full list of films.)

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden made the announcement today saying the selection dates back more than 100 years to a 1921 Kodak educational film titled A Movie Trip Through Filmland about how film stock is produced and the impact of movies globally. In total,...

The Library of Congress announced the 25 features joining the National Film Registry for 2023, with titles including “12 Years a Slave,” “Home Alone,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.” Selected films must be more than 10 years old and are selected each year for their cultural, historic or aesthetic significance to preserve the film heritage of the U.S.

The Library of Congress is not responsible for the physical preservation of the titles selected — many have already been preserved by copyright holders, filmmakers or other archives. For those that haven’t yet been preserved, the Library’s National Audio-Visual Conservation Center works to make sure it will be — through ventures with other archives or studios or through its own preservation program.

The selected films encompass more than 100 years of history, including the earliest title of this year’s additions — the 1921 educational film “A Movie Trip Through Filmland.”

Hollywood studio...

Updated with latest: Networks are marshaling to set programming this month in tribute of Sidney Poitier, the groundbreaking and Oscar-winning actor and civil rights activist who died last week at age 94.

OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network will feature special programming this Sunday that includes the iconic actor’s 2000 and 2007 appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show and an airing of his 1967 film To Sir, With Love. The network also said that it will air the 2015 special Oprah Winfrey Presents: Legends Who Paved the Way featuring Poitier at a gala honoring “some of the legendary men and extraordinary women of the civil rights movement who made history.”

To Sir, With Love and the Oprah Winfrey Show episodes will be available beginning Sunday on the WatchOWN app, the network said.

TCM said today that it will roll out 12 Poitier movies in a marathon programming block Saturday and Sunday, February 19-20. February 20 will mark what...

Sidney Poitier, the noble leading man whose work in such films as No Way Out, Lilies of the Field and In the Heat of the Night paved the way for minority actors and actresses everywhere, has died. He was 94.

Poitier died Thursday night at his home in Beverly Hills, a rep for his family told The Hollywood Reporter.

Poitier was the first Black man to win an Academy Award for best actor when he was acknowledged for his portrayal of a good-hearted handyman for Arizona nuns in Lilies of the Field (1963).

He received an earlier best actor nomination for his turn as a convict on the run in The Defiant Ones (1958).

In 2002, he received an honorary Oscar from the Academy “for his extraordinary performances and unique presence on the screen and for representing the motion picture industry with dignity, style and intelligence throughout the world.”

Poitier was the first actor...

The Criterion Channel has unveiled their March 2021 lineup, which includes no shortage of remarkable programming. Highlights from the slate include eight gems from Preston Sturges, Elaine May’s brilliant A New Leaf, a series featuring Black Westerns, Ann Hui’s Boat People, the new restoration of Ousmane Sembène’s Mandabi.

They will also add films from their Essential Fellini boxset, series on Dirk Bogarde and Nelly Kaplan, and Luchino Visconti’s The Damned and Death in Venice, and more. In terms of recent releases, there’s also Matthew Rankin’s The Twentieth Century and Claire Denis’ Let the Sunshine In.

Check out the lineup below, along with the teaser for the Black Westerns series. For weekly streaming updates across all services, bookmark this page.

The Adventurer, Charles Chaplin, 1917

Bandini, Bimal Roy, 1963

Behind the Screen, Charles Chaplin, 1916

Black Jack, Ken Loach, 1979

Black Rodeo, Jeff Kanew, 1972

Blood Simple, Joel and Ethan Coen,...

by Nathaniel R

Three afterthoughts about the 1957 Smackdown.

1. The reader ballots were quite interestingly divided though they were sparser than usual  - are we doing too many Smackdowns or is it just that the films were harder to find this time?  I was shocked to see that Tfe readers who had seen The Bachelor Party weren't particularly fond of Carolyn Jones who, in my estimation, was the best of the nominees. Overall it was the lowest rated field of nominees I've ever seen for reader polling.

2. My own ballot for '57 would go like so...

Marlene Dietrich, Witness for the Prosecution Carolyn Jones, The Bachelor Party Elsa Lanchester, Witness for the Prosecution Kay Thompson, Funny Face Isuzu Yamada, Throne of Blood

Though I reserve the right to ditch Lanchester and/or Thompson should I see something better. The speed of this summer's Smackdown schedule has made catching up or revisiting 'extra' films impossible.

by Cláudio Alves

Last week, we took a look at the cast of A Raisin in the Sun for the Almost There pieces. Among that quartet of fabulous performances, Sidney Poitier's Walter Younger stood out as the most overwhelming one, so full of energy that the claustrophobic set seemed incapable of containing him. This week, we're again exploring the filmography of the first Black man to win the Best Actor Oscar, giving him a solo opportunity to shine. You could actually do an entire miniseries about the many times Poitier might have come close to an Oscar nomination and failed: A Raisin in the Sun, Edge of the City, Porgy and Bess, A Patch of Blue.

Today, however, we'll be looking at Poitier's 1967 Oscar bid, when the actor starred in three hits, two of which went on to be nominated for Best Picture. Of them, Norman Jewison's In the Heat of the Night...

Before the next Smackdown, Nick Taylor will be visiting some "alternates" to the Supporting Actress Ballot.

There are two noteworthy bits of trivia about Edge of the City. First: This marks the third of five films where Ruby Dee plays Sidney Poitier's wife, as well as the first of these films to focus on her character and their marriage in any real detail. Second: Edge of the City is the directorial debut of Martin Ritt, whose most famous films include Hud (which netted him his only Best Director nomination), Sounder, and The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, all of which were highly regarded by critics and Academy members alike. Ritt was a skilled actor’s director, able to craft naturalistic, cinematic performances from his ensembles while paying equal attention to the vastly different tones, milieus, and sociopolitical landscapes of each film. How could I resist the siren...

Lorraine Hansberry is sometimes lost in the shuffle of famous playwrights, which is quite a shame considering she was the first African American writer to have work produced on Broadway. While only a few of her plays made it to the stage due to her young and untimely death, Hansberry utilized her writing to help the Civil Rights artistic movement, specifically with her hit Broadway show A Raisin in the Sun. Starring Ruby Dee, Sidney Poitier, Diana Sands (all three of whom reprised their roles on screen), among others, the play centers on an African American family struggling with being swallowed by racism in their everyday lives. The show became so popular that Columbia Pictures adapted it for the screen with Hansberry writing the script. Despite the issues that can often come when adapting from stage to screen, Hansberry and company manage to create a space for their actors to...

The blacklist strikes back as both writer Ben Maddow and director Martin Ritt examine the booming ’50s phenomenon of The Suburbs. No money up front will get you into an ‘estate’ of your dreams, provided you’re white. Possibly a little too direct in its messaging of sickness in the American dream, much of what we see in the ticky-tacky subdivision of Sunrise Hills will ring true to those of us who lived it.

No Down Payment

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1957 / B&W / 2:35 widescreen / 101 min. / Street Date April 17, 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring: Joanne Woodward, Sheree North, Tony Randall, Jeffrey Hunter, Cameron Mitchell, Patricia Owens, Barbara Rush, Pat Hingle, Robert H. Harris, Aki Aleong, Charles Herbert, Mimi Gibson.

Cinematography: Joseph Lashelle

Film Editor: Lois R. Loeffler

Original Music: Leigh Harline

Written by Philip Yordan, front for Ben Maddow; from the book by John McPartland

Produced by Jerry Wald...

Since any New York cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.

Metrograph

The “Old School Kung Fu Fest” comes to the Lower East Side this weekend, offering the likes of Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, and Tsui Hark, among others.

A print of My Neighbor Totoro screens on Saturday morning.

Frederick Wiseman‘s Hospital begins a week-long run.

A restoration of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari screens this Monday.

Pioneering actor to receive BAFTA’s highest honour.

BAFTA is to honour Us actor Sidney Poitier with its Fellowship honour at the Ee British Academy Film Awards in London on Feb 14.

Awarded annually, the Fellowship is the highest accolade bestowed by BAFTA upon an individual in recognition of an outstanding and exceptional contribution to film, television or games.

Fellows previously honoured for their work in film include Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Sean Connery, Elizabeth Taylor, Stanley Kubrick, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier, Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave, Christopher Lee, Martin Scorsese, Alan Parker and Helen Mirren. Mike Leigh received the Fellowship at last year’s Film Awards.

Poitier said: “I am extremely honored to have been chosen to receive the Fellowship and my deep appreciation to the British Academy for the recognition.”

The pioneering actor’s award-winning career includes six BAFTA nominations, including one BAFTA win for The Defiant Ones (1958), and a British Academy Britannia Award for Lifetime...

Award-winning star of stage and screen and noted civil rights activist Ruby Dee died at her home in New Rochelle, New York on Wednesday. She was 91. She died of natural causes, according to her representative Michael Livingston, as reported by CNN and other news outlets.  Born in Cleveland in October 27, 1922 and raised in Harlem, Dee appeared in several Broadway plays in the '40s before her big screen breakthrough in 1950's "The Jackie Robinson Story," and she continued to appear in films, on TV and on stage in a career which lasted nearly 70 years.  Often appearing alongside her husband Ossie Davis, Dee drew acclaim in films such as 1957's "Edge of the City" and 1961's "A Raisin in the Sun" (both opposite Sidney Poitier) and played a small but pivotal role in Spike Lee's quintessential 1989 film "Do the Right Thing." She also co-starred in ABC's 1994 adaptation of Stephen King's "The Stand.

Actress and pioneer of the civil rights movement Ruby Dee died on Wednesday at her home in New Rochelle, N.Y. She was 91.

Ruby Dee Dies

Dee began her lengthy career on the stage, working steadily on Broadway during the 40s. She appeared in 12 shows during the decade, including South Pacific (1943), Walk Hard (1944), Arsenic and Old Lace (1946) and John Loves Mary (1946).

The Jackie Robinson Story in 1950 was Dee’s breakout film, in which she played Rae Robinson. She went on to play Ruth Younger in the A Raisin in the Sun movie, and appear in a number of other films, including Edge of the City, Gone Are the Days , The Incident and Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing. She received an Oscar nomination for her work in 2007’s American Gangster alongside Denzel Washington.

Dee was also a constant presence on the small screen, making appearances on a number of TV series.

The Wasteland:

Television is a gold goose that lays scrambled eggs;

and it is futile and probably fatal to beat it for not laying caviar.

Lee Loevinger

When people argue over the quality of television programming, both sides — it’s addictive crap v. underappreciated populist art — seem to forget one of the essentials about commercial TV. By definition, it is not a public service. It is not commercial TV’s job to enlighten, inform, educate, elevate, inspire, or offer insight. Frankly, it’s not even commercial TV’s job to entertain. Bottom line: its purpose is simply to deliver as many sets of eyes to advertisers as possible. As it happens, it tends to do this by offering various forms of entertainment, and occasionally by offering content that does enlighten, inform, etc., but a cynic would make the point that if TV could do the same job televising fish aimlessly swimming around an aquarium,...

John Cassavetes died in 1989 at the age of 59, having acted in a number of extremely popular mainstream movies (Martin Ritt's Edge of the City, Robert Aldrich's The Dirty Dozen, Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby and Brian De Palma's The Fury), which helped subsidise the freewheeling, semi-improvised independent films on which his reputation ultimately rests. The best of these perhaps, and the least improvised, is A Woman Under the Influence (1974), for which he (as director) and his wife Gena Rowlands (as best actress) received Oscar nominations. Most characteristic is Husbands (1970), a much derided study of three well-heeled New Yorkers (Cassavetes, Peter Falk and Ben Gazzara) experiencing a shared midlife crisis and confronting the emptiness of their lives following a fourth friend's early death. After the funeral they take off on a drunken, truth-seeking spree in New York and London.

The result is highly uneven, painfully drawn-out, deeply sincere,...

When the drama Marty won the Academy Award for the Best Picture of 1955, it was a win of many wins, and not just because the movie walked off with three other Oscars.

It signaled that the balance of creative power in Hollywood was shifting; that the monopoly of the major studios was fading, and that a new breed of independent companies – often formed with or by the stars who had, at one time, been held in bondage to the majors under long-term contracts – were serious player in the industry (Marty had been produced by Hecht-Lancaster which had been formed by Burt Lancaster and producer Harold Hecht).

It was a victory for a new kind of anti-Hollywood storytelling; unglamorous tales about unglamorous people, real people. Postwar Italian neo-realism had demonstrated the power of the drama of everyday people just trying to get through a day, and Marty and other films like...

Every year during the Fourth of July, American cable and movie channels never fail to make an effort to run a slate of films perceived as ideal in representing the American brand. These range from war movies dripping with nostalgia and patriotism to pop culture pieces sympathetic to American history and ideals to macho action movies dedicated to American exceptionalism. But with every showing of The Patriot, Yankee Doodle Dandy, or Independence Day, the question becomes more and more pressing, what is an American film? Perhaps more specifically, what is an American director?

To be fair, any number of directors could be classified as quintessentially American. There is the shining humanism of John Ford, the political posturing and questioning of Oliver Stone and Michael Moore, even the capitalist excess of Michael Bay. Below are four directors that may not immediately come to mind as proto typically American filmmakers. The films...

Some might initially be disappointed by the lineup of the Sidney Poitier Collection. Most of Poitier's landmark films were released by United Artists or Columbia Pictures (In the Heat of the Night, A Raisin in the Sun, Lilies in the Field, The Defiant Ones, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, To Sir, With Love, etc.). And since this is a Warner Bros. package, one could feel inclined to pass it up and hope for a different set to be released in the future. But while two of the films included in this collection lack greatness, the other two belong in the library of any avid film lover, whether you like Poitier or not (but who doesn't?). And since all of these films were difficult (if not impossible) to find on DVD before now, it's worth the purchase. Reviews of the four films follow:

Something Of Value

A dramatization of the real...

Some might initially be disappointed by the lineup of the Sidney Poitier Collection. Most of Poitier's landmark films were released by United Artists or Columbia Pictures (In the Heat of the Night, A Raisin in the Sun, Lilies in the Field, The Defiant Ones, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, To Sir, With Love, etc.). And since this is a Warner Bros. package, one could feel inclined to pass it up and hope for a different set to be released in the future. But while two of the films included in this collection lack greatness, the other two belong in the library of any avid film lover, whether you like Poitier or not (but who doesn't?). And since all of these films were difficult (if not impossible) to find on DVD before now, it's worth the purchase. Reviews of the four films follow:

Something Of Value

A dramatization of the real...