News

In 2018, a study from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany reported that two-thirds of millennials don’t know what Auschwitz is. For filmmaker Joe Berlinger, this finding sparked a question: Are the atrocities committed during World War II by Hitler and the Third Reich being lost to modern memory?

“It shocks me the degree to which people are unaware of or have forgotten this history,” Berlinger told Netflix. “This is the right time to retell this story for a younger generation as a cautionary tale — and on a global scale.”

This is not the first time commentators have warned against the danger of forgetting the lessons of the Holocaust. A similar “wave of amnesia” had been noted in America leading up to the 1960 publication of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, journalist William...

Exclusive: A podcast about the disappearance and murder of a number of Grateful Dead fans is the latest audio series to be adapted for television.

Joe Berlinger, the filmmaker behind iconic rock doc Metallica: Some Kind of Monster and a slew of true-crime docuseries, has teamed up with Wheelhouse Entertainment to develop Dead and Gone as a scripted series.

The podcast, a true crime music mystery set in the world of Jerry Garcia’s psychedelic rock band, comes from To Live and Die in LA producer Tenderfoot TV and Disgraceland producer Double Elvis.

It tells the story of how the bodies of Mary Regina Gioia, 22, and Gregory Allen Kniffin, 18, two fans of the Grateful Dead, were found in the San Francisco Bay, beaten and shot to death in August 1986.

Thirty-one-year-old Ralph International Thomas, a Black man, was arrested and sentenced to death for the murders. He died in prison in 2014, after multiple unsuccessful appeals.

Exclusive: The team behind Gloria: I Will Survive, a feature documentary about the artist, has grown strong and learned how to get along.

Storyville Entertainment, the production company behind the doc, founded by Betsy Schechter, has brought on board editor David Zieff, who worked on seminal rock doc Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, and producer Pippa Lambert, as it heads to the finish line.

The doc looks at how Gaynor, who, despite incredible hardship, has wielded her musical talent to change the course of her life, having surmounted illness, paralysis, her sister’s murder, a 25-year traumatic marriage (and divorce) and a cleaned-out bank account. She rebuilt her life by earning a psychology degree at 69 and investing her own resources to self-produce gospel record Testimony – which won Gaynor her second Grammy 40 years after her first.

It will explore the five-year period it took to record the album and features her...

A band’s 40th anniversary is nothing to sneeze at, but learning that one of the groups to reach that milestone is the Norwegian trio a-ha might warrant not so much an achoo as a gasp, double take, or “Come again?”

Since 1985, we’ve all lived with the sparkling earworm of syncopation, synth and pop crooning that is the single “Take On Me,” the kind of breakout chart-topper (in 36 countries) that you just knew was going to define an era’s sugary, youthful romanticism. The dynamically conceptualized half-animated music video didn’t hurt its immortality campaign either, with lead singer Morten Harket’s chiseled, sensitive pouty-rebel presence — someone, please, help him! — destined to adorn teenage walls everywhere. a-ha was ‘80s MTV fame personified, but that song is also a truly great pop classic.

And yet, as Norwegian filmmaker and proud fan Thomas Robsahm’s affectionate documentary “a-ha: The Movie” reveals,...

Exclusive: Sci-fi and fantasy publisher Heavy Metal, global talent representation company Range Media Partners and Oscar-nominated/Emmy-winning filmmaker Joe Berlinger have joined forces to create Classick Club, a forward-thinking blockchain, Nft and Web3 company focused on bringing the prestige and counterculture of classic rock ‘n’ roll into the nascent metaverse.

Through its immersive and interactive new platform, Classick Club will allow fans to collect and connect with their favorite artists via unique digital and Irl experiences. Users will create customizable avatars and explore and interact within an ever-evolving world based on rock music’s most iconic venues and locales. They also will be able to build and exhibit personal collections of NFTs purchased both from a marketplace and earned from in-game experiences.

“I have been lucky enough to explore my love of music and storytelling in such films as Metallica: Some Kind of Monster and my Paul Simon documentary Under African Skies,...

The second season of Joe Berlinger’s “Crime Scene” docuseries for Netflix, premiering Dec. 29, centers on the so-called Times Square Torso Ripper.

“Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer” will focus on how the danger and depravity of New York’s Times Square in the late 1970s and early 1980s allowed serial killer Richard Cottingham to commit heinous acts of murder for 13 years. Cottingham, along with Times Square and New York’s self-proclaimed porno king, Martin “Marty” Hodas, are all key characters in Season 2, which is split into three parts.

The first season of Berlinger’s series, “The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel,” launched in February and explored the real-life mysterious disappearance, subsequent death and conspiracy theories surrounding tourist Elisa Lam at the Cecil Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. Netflix says 45 million households checked out Season 1 in the first four weeks of its debut. The streamer subsequently renewed the docuseries for three more seasons.

Update (8/13): The Metallica Podcast: Volume 1 – The Black Album will premiere on August 20th, the 30th anniversary of the band’s self-titled fifth LP. A trailer for the show has dropped as well.

In addition to a supersized box set and a tribute album, Metallica will mark the 30th anniversary of their mega-selling “Black Album” this year with a podcast dubbed The Metallica Podcast.

In a tweet, the group said the first of eight episodes would be “coming soon,” but since the anniversary is next Thursday “soon” will likely be in the next week.

"I think we're lucky to have him still with us..." 1091 Pics has debuted a new official trailer for an adventure sports documentary titled The Longest Wave, which originally premiered in 2019 at the Doc NYC Film Festival. And it also played at last year's Cinequest Film Festival. Oscar-nominated filmmaker Joe Berlinger travels the globe with legendary windsurfer and pioneering waterman Robby Naish as he figures out what to accomplish next in his life. The film also focuses on the usual adventure life challenges including getting older, injuries, family, and the risks of continuing to participate in considerably dangerous sports. The doc features Robby Naish, Kai Lenny, Laird Hamilton, and Gerry Lopez, among others. This seems like a nice companion to the other recent surfing doc Arc of Aleutia, or the classic The Endless Summer where they also seek the longest wave. Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for ...

In the last few years, I’ve happily watched and reviewed documentaries about Lady Gaga and Billie Eilish, both of which were presented on major streaming services and made with the full cooperation of the artists in question. So it wouldn’t have been shocking if either of those films turned out to be a glorified promotional tool. On the other hand, “Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free,” which premiered today at SXSW, is built around a trove of 16mm footage discovered in 2020 in the Tom Petty archive. The film was shot by Petty’s filmographer Martyn Atkins while Petty was recording his second solo album, “Wildflowers” (1994), and performing on the concert tour that followed its release.

In 2021, just saying the phrase “16mm” can give you a tingle. It sounds so raw and private, so home-movie analog. But here’s an irony for you. Both the Lady Gaga and Billie Eilish docs are,...

A five-episode docuseries about the unprecedented relationship between author and journalist Jillian Lauren and the most prolific serial killer in American history, Sam Little, will bow on Starz this spring after a premiere at the SXSW Film Festival.

The story will detail Lauren’s race against time to identify Little’s victims. The series will be executive produced and directed by Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning filmmaker Joe Berlinger with Po Kutchins serving as showrunner and executive producer.

Little recently died in prison. He is estimated to have killed at least 93 victims in his decades-long crime spree. The incidents only came to light after he was convicted of killing three Los Angeles women, and began to talk to investigators about his other crimes.

Back in 2008, Broadway producer Jeffrey Seller approached RadicalMedia CEO Jon Kamen about filming the final performance of Rent. Kamen's New York-based production company already had a foothold in the documentary space, with such credits as Errol Morris' 2003 Oscar winner The Fog of War and 2004's Metallica: Some Kind of Monster. The live-capture experiment provided Kamen with an entry into an exciting new subgenre of the nonfiction film. The finished product, Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway, received a small theatrical release from Sony Pictures and, in the process, RadicalMedia "developed the nomenclature and a whole style of filming it in a ...

Back in 2008, Broadway producer Jeffrey Seller approached RadicalMedia CEO Jon Kamen about filming the final performance of Rent. Kamen's New York-based production company already had a foothold in the documentary space, with such credits as Errol Morris' 2003 Oscar winner The Fog of War and 2004's Metallica: Some Kind of Monster. The live-capture experiment provided Kamen with an entry into an exciting new subgenre of the nonfiction film. The finished product, Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway, received a small theatrical release from Sony Pictures and, in the process, RadicalMedia "developed the nomenclature and a whole style of filming it in a ...

Eddie Kramer, an engineer famous to rock fans for his work with Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Kiss and the Beatles, will be the subject of a feature documentary, “From the Other Side of the Glass,” with Joe Berlinger (“Metallica: Some Kind of Monster”) and Spencer Proffer (“Chasing Trane”) among those on board as producers, and Rolling Stone magazine taking a key role in the project as well.

Directing will be John Dorsey, whose credits include “Year of the Scab,” an acclaimed 2017 documentary for ESPN that told the story of the replacement players called to fill in during the 1987 NFL strike.

Kramer is one of those names that everyone who ever scoured liner notes during rock’s golden age knows, but few know much about. The 77-year-old, Cape Town-born music industry veteran was an engineer on five Led Zeppelin albums (starting with “Led Zeppelin II”), five Rolling Stones albums, two essential...

For one night only, Metallica fans will soon be able to witness the combined forces of the world’s most famous heavy metal quartet and the San Francisco Symphony on the big screen.

The concert film “S&M2,” scheduled to hit theaters on October 9, will take viewers inside San Francisco’s Chase Center (now home to the Golden State Warriors) for the high-octane marriage of strings and metal that occurred on September 6. Coinciding with the twentieth anniversary of the original “S&m’” the concert made further history by serving as Chase Center’s inaugural event.

Though the change of venue meant the intimacy captured in Metallica’s first “S&m” — performed and recorded at the comparatively cozy Berkeley Community Theatre in 1999 — might be gone, the absence did not leave a void. Instead, as fans will soon experience, the atmosphere was palpably buzzing with excitement. Traveling from across the world, the crowd...

Exclusive: Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning filmmaker Joe Berlinger has signed on to direct the feature film Slay the Dreamer, and he will also direct and produce a feature documentary on the same subject. Pic is based on the life of Rev. James Lawson, friend and advisor to Martin Luther King. A civil rights icon in his own right, Lawson was instrumental in the Sanitation Workers’ Strike in Memphis. During that strike, Lawson invited King to Memphis to speak to the workers, the night before his assassination.

Slay the Dreamer tells the true story of Lawson’s efforts to reopen the investigation of King’s murder. In 1976, Lawson discovered that Grace Walden — the only eyewitness to the man who shot King — had been involuntarily held in a mental institution outside Memphis since the assassination eight years earlier. Walden was held under a fake name after turning down a $100,000 reward from the FBI...

Very soon here we will finally be able to lay our eyes on director Joe Berlinger's Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. If you may have forgotten, this is the movie which stars (of all people) Zac Efron as the infamous serial killer Ted Bundy. The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2019, and is scheduled to be released in theaters and on Netflix sometime later this year. And today we have word via the MPAA that the movie has been slapped with an R-rating for "disturbing/violent content, some sexuality, nudity, and language."

This story of Ted Bundy is shown from the perspective of his girlfriend Elizabeth Kloepfer, played by The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones and Mirror Mirror actress Lily Collins, who struggled to accept the reality of her boyfriend's nature for years.

As strange as it was when we first heard...

Comprising a considerable amount of our top 50 films of last year, Sundance Film Festival has proven to yield the first genuine look at what the year in cinema will bring. Now in its 41st iteration, we’ll be heading back to Park City this week, but before we do, it’s time to highlight the films we’re most looking forward to, including documentaries and narrative features from all around the world.

While much of the joy found in the festival comes from surprises throughout the event, below one will find our 20 most-anticipated titles. Check out our picks below and for updates straight from the festival, make sure to follow us on Twitter, and stay tuned to all of our coverage here.

20. Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (Joe Berlinger)

From Brother’s Keeper to his Paradise Lost films to Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, documentary extraordinaire Joe Berlinger is...

Actress Rachel Weisz and RadicalMedia founder Jon Kamen will receive two of the tribute honors at November’s IFP Gotham Awards, the unofficial kickoff to awards season.

The awards ceremony will be held on Monday, November 26, in its longtime home at Cipriani Wall Street in Lower Manhattan.

Weisz is in The Favourite, which took multiple honors at the Venice Film Festival and also played Telluride. It will open the New York Film Festival later this month. Earlier this year, Weisz earned accolades for her role in Disobedience, which she also produced. She won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 2005 for The Constant Gardener.

Kamen is chairman and CEO of RadicalMedia, whose work spans television, film, graphic and interactive design. Among its 150-plus titles are Oscar-nominated and -winning documentaries such as The Fog of War, What Happened, Miss Simone? and Metallica: Some Kind of Monster. On TV, it has been involved with Mad Men,...

Documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger has partnered with Keshet Studios and the Center for Investigative Reporting on a true-crime series devoted to cold murder cases tied to civil rights offenses.

“Unmasking Murder” is being shopped to TV and digital buyers as an eight-part documentary series following investigators as they dig in to longtime cold cases and a few contemporary homicides. The series would follow a handful of investigations per season, focusing on the legwork and day-to-day work of Cir investigative reporters.

Berlinger is known for the “Paradise Lost” trilogy of HBO documentaries that helped drive the legal reversal of fortune for the three men in the West Memphis Three murder case being released from prison after serving 18 years. His other documentary films include “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster” (2004) and Netflix’s “Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru” (2016).

“The hook for me for this show was being able to observe and...

Brooklyn-born Dp Bob Richman began his career as a production assistant for Albert and David Maysles. He’s since gone on to shoot some of the most widely seen documentaries of the past 20 years: An Inconvenient Truth, Waiting for ‘Superman’, the Paradise Lost trilogy and Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, to name a few. His latest feature, The Price of Everything, is a vérité doc on the puzzlingly astronomical price of fine art. Richman spoke with Filmmaker ahead of the film’s Sundance premiere about his preferred camera for vérité filmmaking, reuniting with director Nathaniel Kahn (My Architect) and the essential importance of a good […]...

When Terry George embarked on the filming of his Armenian genocide drama “The Promise” starring Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac, following nearby with his own crew was director Joe Berlinger.

Read More: ‘The Post’ Trailer: Steven Speilberg Releases The Pentagon Papers

Known for his documentaries such as the “Paradise Lost” trilogy and “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster,” the filmmaker used the production of “The Promise” to make “Intent To Destroy,” his own cinematic exploration of the tangled web of responsibility that has driven a century of denial by the Turkish government and its strategic allies.

Continue reading ‘Intent To Destroy’ Clip: The Horrors Of The Death March [Exclusive] at The Playlist.

Elvis Presley’s 1974 minor hit “My Boy” might serve as the alternative title for The Colonel, a film bio of the King’s Svengali-like manager, Colonel Tom Parker. The film is in the works from music and media producer Spencer Proffer (Chasing Trane, Gods & Monsters), producer-director Steve Binder (Elvis '68; Diana Ross In Central Park) and filmmaker Joe Berlinger (Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster; Paul Simon's Under African Skies tour). Production is slated for early 2018…...

Spencer Proffer, Steve Binder, Joe Berlinger join forces for 2018 production start on ‘The Colonel’.

Music and media producer Spencer Proffer, producer-director Steve Binder and filmmaker Joe Berlinger have teamed up to bring the profile of long-time music manager Colonel Tom Parker to the big screen.

Parker, who died in 1997 aged 87, was a music business entrepreneur who lived an intriguing personal life. He arrived in America as a 20-year old undocumented Dutch immigrant, and took great pains to hide his past. According to biographer Alanna Nash, he may have been involved in a murder in his native Holland.

Berlinger will direct from a screenplay based on Nash’s 2003 book The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story Of Colonel Tom Parker And Elvis Presley, published by Simon & Schuster. It was one of four books Nash authored on Presley.

The team will work from an outline developed by Nash and Berlinger, and Nash will co-write the screenplay.

Berlinger is producing...

Tony Sokol May 16, 2017

Zac Efron signs up for the film Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile, playing Ted Bundy...

Zac Efron will throw off any preconceived notions of what roles he’ll attack in the upcoming Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile. In the film, he's going to play serial killer Ted Bundy, working off a script by Michael Werwie.

Directed by Joe Berlinger, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile will tell the story of Bundy, who killed more than 30 people in the 1970s, through the eyes of his longtime girlfriend Elizabeth Kloepfer. She defended Bundy for a long time, until she turned him in.

The film will be produced by Nicolas Chartier and Ara Keshishian. Efron’s Ninjas Runnin’ Wild banner will produce alongside Michael Simkin and Jason Barrett. Werwie and Jonathan Deckter will be executive producing.

“I have been trying to work with Zac Efron for a long time,...

Tony Sokol Apr 2, 2019

Zac Efron takes a turn as serial killer Ted Bundy in Netflix movie Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.

It's Ted Bundy's turn in the pop culture true crime spotlight.

Bundy, the unusually charismatic serial killer who terrorized the Pacific Northwest for years, is the subject of the upcoming biopic Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. Zac Efron is set to star as the monster, himself.

The film is directed by Joe Berlinger, who co-directed the Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills documentaries with the late Bruce Sinofsky, and Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster, Brother's Keeper and Whitey: United States of America V. James J. Bulger. He recently directed the recent documentary Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru.

Berlinger also had a hand in the recent Ted Bundy documentary for Netflix, Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes. Here is everything we...

Has it come to this? Is legendary documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger now making branded content for the undeniably charismatic self-help guru Tony Robbins? Sure, filmmakers fund their passion projects through a variety of projects that pay the bills, from Errol Morris’ commercial work to Berlinger’s own helming of Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, but Tony Robbins: I’m Not Your Guru is a particular beast of a concert film with an undeniable emotional power that isn’t quite the character study I had come to expect from the director of Metallica: Some Kind of Monster.

Of course, the film may resist criticism as Robbins devotees receive access to his Date With Destiny, an event they might otherwise not be able to attend. Berlinger takes his camera to Robbins’ 6-day Boca Raton retreat, an “intimate” event limited to an audience of 2,500 where the cost of attendance is just...

Tony Robbins may be no Holy Wayne, but there’s little denying the motivational speaker and “Shallow Hal” cameo-haver’s success. Netflix’s next original movie takes a look at his annual “Date with Destiny” seminar, with the first trailer for “Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru” now available for all your self-actualization needs.

Read More: SXSW 2016 Review: ‘Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru’ Makes Tony Robbins Look Kind of Scary

2,500 people make their way to Boca Raton, Florida for the six-day seminar every year, but director Joe Berlinger and his crew were the first allowed behind-the-scenes access to it. He’s as energetic offstage as he is in front of his assembled fans, who, at least in “I Am Not Your Guru,” are out of their minds with excitement to even be in the same room with Robbins.

Read More: Joe Berlinger’s Tony Robbins Documentary to Open 2016 AmDocs Film Festival

Berlinger previously directed “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster” and co-directed the “Paradise Lost” trilogy, the first of which is among the best films of the 1990s. “Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru” is available on Netflix on July 15.

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Netflix will premiere the Joe Berlinger documentary “Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru” exclusively to members worldwide on July 15. Berlinger, who created such acclaimed documentaries as “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster,” and the “Paradise Lost” trilogy, goes inside the life of world-renowned life coach, business strategist and best-selling author Robbins at his mega annual seminar, Date With Destiny. Annually more than 200,000 people attend one of Robbins’ programs, but once a year, 2,500 people from around the globe make the journey to Florida to attend his most intimate and intensive instruction. Also Read: 'Making a Murderer' Is 'Watershed Moment' in Documentary.

Veteran Dp Robert Richman has shot more than 60 documentary films since 1985, including such heavyweights as An Inconvenient Truth, Waiting for ‘Superman’ and Metallica: Some Kind of Monster. His latest work is Suited, an HBO documentary produced by Lena Dunham. The film profiles Bindle & Keep, a tailoring company in Brooklyn that caters to an Lgbtq community. Richman speaks below about direct cinema, the Maysles brothers and why “pure verite films” are his favorite kind to shoot. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being […]...

Veteran Dp Robert Richman has shot more than 60 documentary films since 1985, including such heavyweights as An Inconvenient Truth, Waiting for ‘Superman’ and Metallica: Some Kind of Monster. His latest work is Suited, an HBO documentary produced by Lena Dunham. The film profiles Bindle & Keep, a tailoring company in Brooklyn that caters to an Lgbtq community. Richman speaks below about direct cinema, the Maysles brothers and why “pure verite films” are his favorite kind to shoot. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being […]...

The first slate of titles for SXSW 2016 includes the world premieres of Netflix original film "Pee-wee's Big Holiday," produced by Judd Apatow and star Paul Reubens, director Joe Berlinger's ("Metallica: Some Kind of Monster") documentary portrait " Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru," and the AMC series "Preacher," developed by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and Sam Catlin from the DC Comics title. In addition to previously announced Opening Night selection "Everybody Wants Some," Richard Linklater's first film since "Boyhood," the 2016 edition will also feature Athina Rachel Tsangari's festival-circuit favorite "Chevalier" and the North American premiere of Jeff Nichols' highly anticpated "Midnight Special."  Read the full list of today's announced selections below. SXSW 2016 takes place March 11-20 in Austin, Texas.  "Beware the Slenderman" (World...

Filmmaker Bruce Sinofsky has died aged 58.

The Oscar-nominated documentary maker behind the Paradise Lost trilogy died on Saturday (February 21) through complications related to diabetes.

"Bruce encouraged both of us to throw caution into the wind to start capturing what would become Brother's Keeper in 1991 with no money in our pockets, in the pre-video 16mm age of documentary-making, when making a no-budget film took a little more ingenuity to get in the can," Sinofsky's best friend and regular collaborator Joe Berlinger said in a statement.

"His unique combination of courage and empathy made that possible, as well as everything that came after for us.

"The extraordinary adventures we had on the road and the deeply stimulating experiences we had in the editing room were life-changing for all of us who knew him thanks to his wisdom and fervor to change the world."

Having spent 30 years producing documentaries, Sinofsky was behind the...

February 21, 2015 American Documentary Filmmaker Bruce Sinofsky Dies at 58

Bruce Sinofsky, who with Joe Berlinger made the celebrated Paradise Lost trilogy along with Metallica: Some Kind of Monster and Brother's Keeper, passed away this morning after a longtime struggle with diabetes. He was 58 years old. 

Joe Berlinger contacted us with the news via email, and offered the following tribute:

Read more...

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Bruce Sinofsky passed away at the age of 58 on Saturday morning. The news was confirmed by longtime collaborator Joe Berlinger. Bruce Sinofsky reportedly died from complications of diabetes, but there are no further details at this time.

Bruce Sinofsky spent the past thirty years as a documentary director, helping to create some of the most important true-life films of the past three decades. He is best known for co-directing Metallica: Some Kind of Monster with Joe Berlinger, which looks at the band as they go through relationship counseling while trying to create a new album. Both Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky are also created with helping to free the West Memphis Three with their Paradise Lost documentary trilogy, which helped uncover evidence in the case against three wrongly convicted men accused of child murder. The final chapter in this harrowing saga, Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, earned both Joe Berlinger...

Bruce Sinofsky, one-half of the Emmy Award-winning documentarian team behind films like Metallica: Some Kind of Monster and the West Memphis Three trilogy Paradise Lost, passed away in his sleep Saturday morning following complications from diabetes, his filmmaking partner Joe Berlinger told Variety. He was 58.

"[Sinofsky's] unique combination of courage and empathy made that possible, as well as everything that came after for us," Berlinger told Variety. "The extraordinary adventures we had on the road and the deeply stimulating experiences we had in the editing room were life-changing for all of...

"Devastated to report death of my best friend and #documentary partner Bruce Sinofsky this morning," tweeted Joe Berlinger earlier today. "Details to follow. Great man, sad day #Rip." Sinofsky, winner of a Directors Guild of America Award, two Emmys, a Peabody and an Independent Spirit Award, began his career as a senior editor for Maysles Films. Among the projects he directed on his own are Good Rockin' Tonight: The Legacy of Sun Records for PBS/American Masters and episodes of the Sundance Channel series Iconoclasts. But he'll most likely be remembered for his work with Berlinger, the Paradise Lost trilogy, Brother's Keeper and Metallica: Some Kind of Monster. » - David Hudson...

"Devastated to report death of my best friend and #documentary partner Bruce Sinofsky this morning," tweeted Joe Berlinger earlier today. "Details to follow. Great man, sad day #Rip." Sinofsky, winner of a Directors Guild of America Award, two Emmys, a Peabody and an Independent Spirit Award, began his career as a senior editor for Maysles Films. Among the projects he directed on his own are Good Rockin' Tonight: The Legacy of Sun Records for PBS/American Masters and episodes of the Sundance Channel series Iconoclasts. But he'll most likely be remembered for his work with Berlinger, the Paradise Lost trilogy, Brother's Keeper and Metallica: Some Kind of Monster. » - David Hudson...

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Bruce Sinofsky, whose films included the “Paradise Lost” trilogy chronicling the infamous legal trials of the so-called West Memphis Three, died Saturday following a long battle with complications from diabetes. He was 58. Sinofsky was nominated for an Oscar for 2011’s “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory,” His other credits include the documentary “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster” and “Good Rockin’ Tonight: The Legacy of Sun Records.” In addition to the Oscar nomination, Sinofsky won two Emmys, a Peabody and an Independent Spirit Award. Also Read: Hollywood’s Notable Deaths of 2015 (Photos) Sinofsky has been making documentaries for thirty years, often in collaboration.

“Metallica: Some Kind of Monster” was lauded in 2004 for its honest examination of one of the world’s most successful heavy metal bands teetering on the brink of implosion. But a decade later Metallica’s drummer Lars Ulrich and directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky revealed how the documentary also helped guide them through low points in their professional careers.

“The making of the movie was one of the most extraordinary experiences in my life,” Berlinger told TheWrap. “Precisely because it came at such a vulnerable time.”

But the movie didn’t just document Ulrich and frontman James Hetfield’s contentious relationship; it affected it.

The members of Metallica stood at a crossroad. The band was feuding. They.d been together for decades, and the key members . guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich . were pretty sure they didn.t want to rock anymore. at least, not with the band mates they.d been rocking alongside for all these years. At the urging of their manager, the band tried therapy, a process that was captured in the brilliant rock documentary Some Kind of Monster. Ten years later, co-director Joe Berlinger looks back at that time, and on the impact of his film, and swears it kept Metallica from breaking up. Metallica: Some Kind of Monster turns 10 this year, and if you haven.t watched it, you need to rent that through Netflix because it.s one of the best documentaries made in the past decade. Yahoo Movies called on Berlinger with the movie.s...

What goes on tour stays on tour – unless it's caught on camera. With classic Beatles comedy A Hard Day's Night returning to UK cinemas on July 4, and Metallica's triumphant set at Glastonbury reminding us how far they've come from darker days, now feels like the time to look back on some of the movies that prove that maxim.

Below, we catalogue the craziest music movies ever made, helpfully divided into four distinct categories of weirdness.

Bad Behaviour

Beginning with its 70-something subject attacking the director with his walking stick, Beware Of Mr Baker (2012) introduces a man – ex-Cream drummer Ginger Baker – so bellicose he's made the whole world his practice kit. Like Brick Top from Snatch with even greater anger-management issues, Baker is a bitter old codger who "communicates more through his drums than his words", according to his long-suffering daughter. He certainly doesn't mince the latter.

Mick Jagger is...

Since taking over Current in 2013, the channel Al Jazeera America has yet to build serious buzz for its original programming in the cable space. The problem faced is this: How does a news-focused channel compete with pre-established major players like CNN and MSNBC? Al Jazeera's solution might be this: Bring in an established, award-winning documentarian.   Sunday night at 9pm Et/6pm Pt saw the launch of "The System," an eight-part series created and hosted by director Joe Berlinger, which breaks down various ways the justice system has failed to actually execute justice. It's a show examining everything from flaws in mandatory sentencing to the treatment of minors convicted of murder.  As he told Indiewire during a recent interview, Berlinger has made a career out of "giving a voice to the voiceless," as most of his documentaries are devoted to injustices of some kind. When not hanging out with rock stars...

Joe Berlinger, the documentary filmmaker who co-directed the Paradise Lost trilogy about the West Memphis 3 and Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster, will make the narrative pic Facing The Wind. The film has Vera Farmiga, Evan Rachel Wood and Alessandro Nivola attached and it will be sold at Cannes. An adaptation of the nonfiction book by ex-Wall Street Journal reporter Julia Salamon, it tells the story of Bob Rowe, who spiraled from model husband to a man who commits a shocking act of violence against a loved one and then tries to redeem himself. Nivola will play Rowe, Farmiga will play his first wife, whom he murders. Wood plays his second wife, whom he marries after pleading insanity and avoiding prison. Rita Wilson and Jennifer Beals will play supporting roles.

The Wagner/Cuban Company's Magnolia Pictures announced today that they have acquired Us theatrical, VOD and home entertainment rights to Whitey: United States of America V. James J. Bulger, a documentary about notorious Irish gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger and the massive law enforcement corruption surrounding his reign of terror in South Boston. Whitey, which premiered at Sundance this year, was directed and produced by Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger (Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2), and produced by RadicalMedia for CNN Films.

Magnolia will be giving the film a day and date theatrical and on demand release this June, followed by a broadcast on CNN later this year. Magnolia and CNN also partnered on Blackfish and Life Itself, the upcoming Roger Ebert documentary also being released this summer.

Infamous gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger wielded a mystique as the Robin Hood of South Boston,...

Magnolia Pictures acquired U.S. theatrical, VOD and home entertainment rights to Whitey: The United States Of America V. James J Bulger, the Joe Berlinger-directed docu on notorious Irish gangster Whitey Bulger and the massive law enforcement corruption that allowed his reign of terror to proliferate in South Boston and enable his escape from justice. The film premiered at Sundance and Berlinger Co-directed Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster and the Paradise Lost trilogy. Pic was produced by RadicalMedia for CNN Films. Magnolia will be giving the film a day and date theatrical and on demand release this June, followed by a broadcast on CNN later this year. Berlinger takes a surprising angle. While it was long believed that Bulger ran his operation while he was an FBI informant, Berlinger investigates whether that was actually the case. He certainly operated under the noses of law enforcement. But was he a rat?...

The Wagner/Cuban Company's Magnolia Pictures announced today that they have acquired Us theatrical, VOD and home entertainment rights to Whitey: The United States of America v. James J Bulger , a documentary about notorious Irish gangster Whitey Bulger and the massive law enforcement corruption surrounding his reign of terror in South Boston. Whitey , which premiered at Sundance this year, was directed and produced by Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger (the "Paradise Lost" trilogy, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster , Brother's Keeper ), and produced by RadicalMedia for CNN Films. Magnolia will be giving the film a day and date theatrical and on demand release this June, followed by a broadcast on CNN later this year. Magnolia and CNN also...

Gravity is your heir apparent to the box office crown this weekend, tracking indicating another easy victory, IMAX and 3-D dollars providing Warner Bros. with a winner. With the $80 million production budget already released, it's also a fairly simple exercise to project that Cuaron's latest film will have no problem getting to the $200 million worldwide that would indicate a profit. Why is my call of $44.9 million over trackingc Because I believe this is the rare film that heavily appeals to the female demographic as well, regardless of your personal feelings for Sandra Bullock. It's often noted that this is Alfonso Cuaron's first film since 2006's Children of Men, with the inference being how odd that is, but the numbers on the (admittedly great) Children of Men were pretty bleak: Children of Men Production Budget: $76 million (x2.5= $190 million) Worldwide Box Office: $70 million DVD Sales: $20 million Projected Loss: $100 million (not factoring in television rights,...

In their experimental new film, Metallica endeavor to translate the anger and pain in their music into a visual medium. Directed by Nimród Antalis, Metallica Through the Neveris the band's second big-screen effort, the first being being the 2004 behind-the-scenes documentary Metallica: Some Kind of Monster. That debut, created by filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, recorded singer James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich at each other's throats even with a full-time therapist on staff. The group's dysfunction was so severe it prompted Roger Ebert to ask in his review, "Why work with people you c...

Ever since the release of their debut album, the cheerily-titled "Kill Them All," thirty years ago, preeminent rockers Metallica have found a way to grow a diehard fanbase while keeping them all on board for the past three decades, an achievement few other bands can claim. Ten years ago, the band's internal turmoils while recording "St. Anger" and trying to find a new bass player were documented in Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky's Metallica: Some Kind of Monster . That album's subsequent poor reception would make one think Metallica may have reached the plateau of their success. Not so. Ten years later, Metallica is still going strong with new bass player Robert Trujillo settling in as the band's popular fourth member and since that doc, they've released and...

“Hank: Five Years From the Brink,” the first film produced by Bloomberg Businessweek Films, will launch exclusively on Netflix starting Sept. 16, the streaming service announced in conjunction with Bloomberg on Monday. Directed by Oscar-nominee Joe Berlinger (“Paradise Lost” trilogy, “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster”), the documentary features former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson giving a first-person narrative of how he worked with banks, congress and presidential candidates to sign off on nearly $1 trillion of bail-outs in September of 2008 in order to prevent total economic collapse. He also details why another fiscal crisis is inevitable. Also read: How Bloomberg Businessweek Predicts.