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"We're not just a magazine... we're a whole social movement." HBO debuted the trailer for a documentary event titled Dear Ms.: A Revolution in Print, taking a look back at the iconic, groundbreaking magazine known as Ms. This three-part doc film is being released by HBO streaming starting in July this summer. It recently premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival this month. 3 filmmakers dive deep into the storied and complex legacy of Ms. magazine through the lens of some of its most iconic covers, featuring never-before-seen archival footage and engaging interviews. Ms. wasn’t just a magazine–it was a revolution. Told through the lens of three directors and the covers that made history. Part One - "A Magazine for all Women" - is directed by Salima Koroma. Part Two - "Ms.: A Portable Friend" - is directed by Alice Gu (director of The Donut King). Part Three...

The 13th annual Sun Valley Film Festival, kicking off Feb. 28, will aim to once again to capture the spirit of storytelling by celebrating poignant films at the Idaho ski resort town.

This year’s festival kicks off with “Ezra,” directed by Tony Goldwyn and starring Bobby Cannavale, Rose Byrne and Robert De Niro, and concludes March 3 with a screening of “Sugarcane,” a documentary about missing children at a Native residential school that recently won a directing trophy for Emily Kassie and Julian Brave NoiseCat at Sundance.

The programming team also chose multiple films from first-time feature filmmakers, including Sophia Sabello and Pablo Feldman’s “Edge of Everything,” Annie Baker’s “Janet Planet,” Marc Marriott’s “Tokyo Cowboy,” Caroline Lindy’s “Your Monster,” while the documentary line-up includes Maggie Contreras’ “Maestra” and Lisa D’Apolito’s “Shari & Lamb Chop.”

Panels and starry tributes are planned at the fest, with movies screening at...

IMAX is partnering with Beach House Pictures and China Review Studio on feature documentary The Elephant Odyssey. The film will chronicle the epic adventure of the wandering Asian elephants that captivated viewers around the world in 2020 and explore the rarely seen world of Yunnan, China where the elephants live. Filmed with IMAX cameras and slated for release across the IMAX network in 2024, the 90-minute film is currently in production in China. Alice Gu (The Donut King) is directing with Clair Popkin (Free Solo) serving as Dp.

The film will offer a new perspective on the spectacular story that unfolded when 16 wild Asian elephants left their habitat in Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve in March 2020. For 18 months, the elephants traveled over 1000 kilometers on a wildlife journey that included impromptu village feasts, riotous raids on grain stores, messy mud fights, and even giving birth on the road. Millions of viewers followed the story...

Production is now under way on “The Elephant Odyssey,” a major wildlife documentary film that will release in Imax theaters next year.

The film, directed by Alice Gu, chronicles the highly unusual trek by a herd of elephants in China that began in early 2020. As the group diverted from their usual habitat and marched over 1,000 km (600 miles) across remote Yunnan Province they attracted global attention, including live-streamed drone footage. They raided grain stores, indulged in impromptu village feasts and messy mud fights, and even gave birth while on the road.

Reasons for the herd’s 18-month trek are unclear, with wildlife experts variously pointing to climate change and the failure of conservation efforts.

“The Elephant Odyssey” is directed by Gu (“The Donut King”), with Clair Popkin serving as the director of photography. It is filmed with Imax-certified cameras and will feature exclusive footage of the elephants’ journey through an unprecedented...

Imax is teaming up with Beach House Pictures (a Blue Ant Media company) and China Review Studio of China International Communications Group (Cicg) for the new documentary “The Elephant Odyssey.” Directed by Alice Gu (“The Donut King”) and shot by Clair Popkin, the film recounts the saga of the wandering Asian elephants in 2020 and 2021, while exploring the rarely-seen world of Yunnan, China.

The 90-minute film, shot with Imax cameras and slated for release across the Imax network in 2024, is currently in production in China.

“The 18-month journey of the Yunnan elephants at the height of the pandemic was a hopeful antidote to the lockdowns many of us were enduring,” said Imax Head of Documentaries John Turner, Head of Documentaries for Imax. “We wanted to know more about these animals and why it happened. Together with Beach House Pictures, China Review Studio and director Alice Gu, this will be an immersive wildlife documentary like no other.

One decade after injecting their relentless and bold style into the Evil Dead franchise (I'm still in awe of the Abomination's blood rainstorm), director/co-writer Fede Alvarez and co-writer Rodo Sayagues are bringing their talents to the Alien franchise in 20th Century Studios' new film that begins production in Budapest on March 9th, and we have a look at the cast list and brief synopsis:

Press Release: Burbank, Calif. – 20th Century Studios’ new “Alien” film starring Cailee Spaeny (“Mare of Easttown”) will begin production in Budapest on March 9. Joining Spaeny in the cast are David Jonsson (“Industry”), Archie Renaux (“Shadow and Bone”), Isabela Merced (“Rosaline”), Spike Fearn (“The Batman”) and Aileen Wu (“Away from Home”). Fede Alvarez directs from a screenplay he wrote with his frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues. Ridley Scott, who directed the original “Alien” and produced and directed the series’ entries “Prometheus” and “Alien: Covenant,” and Michael Pruss...

Cailee Spaeny to star in new ‘Alien’ (Photo by Dani Brubaker)

20th Century Studios released new details on the upcoming ninth Alien movie as filming’s set to get underway in Budapest on March 9, 2023. Cailee Spaeny (Mare of Easttown) will star and Fede Alvarez is directing.

The studio also confirmed David Jonsson (Industry), Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone), Isabela Merced (Rosaline), Spike Fearn (The Batman), and Aileen Wu (Away from Home) are on board the sci-fi thriller.

Alvarez co-wrote the screenplay with Rodo Sayagues. They previously collaborated on Evil Dead, Don’t Breathe, Calls, Don’t Breathe 2, 2022’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the shorts El Cojonudo and Ataque de Panico.

Alien, Prometheus, and Alien: Covenant director Ridley Scott is producing along with Michael Pruss (under their Scott Free banner). Brent O’Connor (Bullet Train), Elizabeth Cantillon (Persuasion), and Tom Moran (The Donut King) serve as executive producers.

20th Century Studios offered this...

20th Century Studios has announced new plot details, cast additions and production status for the latest “Alien” film.

While the premise for the yet-to-be-titled movie has been kept under wraps, the studio did reveal that the film will follow “a group of young people on a distant world, who find themselves in a confrontation with the most terrifying life form in the universe.”

Those who will be faced with the terrifying forms are David Jonsson (“Industry”), Archie Renaux (“Shadow and Bone”), Isabela Merced (“Rosaline”), Spike Fearn (“The Batman”) and Aileen Wu (“Away from Home”), all of whom will join the previously announced lead, Cailee Spaeny (“Mare of Easttown”).

In addition to the cast announcement, 20th Century Studios announced that the ninth film in the franchise will begin production on March 9 in Budapest.

Fede Alvarez, serves as the director, screenwriter and producer, following his direction of horror films, “The Girl in the Spider’s Web,...

(Pictured): Cailee Spaeny. Photo by Dani Brubaker.

20th Century Studios’ new “Alien” film starring Cailee Spaeny (“Mare of Easttown”) will begin production in Budapest on March 9. Joining Spaeny in the cast are David Jonsson (“Industry”), Archie Renaux (“Shadow and Bone”), Isabela Merced (“Rosaline”), Spike Fearn (“The Batman”) and Aileen Wu (“Away from Home”).

In this ninth entry in the immensely popular and enduring film series, a group of young people on a distant world find themselves in a confrontation with the most terrifying life form in the universe.

(Pictured): Aileen Wu. Photo by Wolf Marloh.

Fede Alvarez directs from a screenplay he wrote with his frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues.

Ridley Scott, who directed the original “Alien” and produced and directed the series’ entries “Prometheus” and “Alien: Covenant,” and Michael Pruss (“Boston Strangler” upcoming) are producing under their Scott Free banner, with Brent O’Connor (“Bullet Train”), Elizabeth Cantillon (“Persuasion...

David Jonsson (Industry), Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone), Spike Fearn (Aftersun) and newcomer Aileen Wu have signed on to star alongside Cailee Spaeny and Isabela Merced in the new Alien film that Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead) is directing for 20th Century Studios, Deadline can confirm.

Related Story Aaron Taylor-Johnson Joins Robert Eggers’ ‘Nosferatu’ Movie For Focus Related Story Isabela Merced Joins Cailee Spaeny In New 'Alien' Movie For 20th Century And Scott Free Related Story 'White Men Can't Jump' Remake Teaser Shows Jack Harlow Making Film Debut Alongside Sinqua Walls

In the ninth entry in the iconic sci-fi horror series, a group of young people on a distant world find themselves in a confrontation with the most terrifying life form in the universe. Alvarez will direct from his script written with Rodo Sayagues.

The original Alien‘s director and producer Ridley Scott — who likewise produced and...

The new Alien feature from filmmaker Fede Alvarez has found its chest-bursting cast.

David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Spike Fearn and Aileen Wu have joined Cailee Spaeny in 20th Century Studios’ latest installment of the science-fiction horror franchise.

Alvarez, who is known for his tense and sometimes splatter-filled flicks such as Don’t Breathe and the remake of Evil Dead, is directing the project that begins production in Budapest March 9. He also wrote the script with frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues.

Plot details are being kept in a cryochamber, but as opposed to the other movies which focused on adults in corporate, militaristic and scientific roles, this now-ninth installment of the franchise will focus on a group of young people. On a distant colony, the group finds themselves in a fight for their lives with the titular alien, a creature known as a Xenomorph, whose race propagates by implanting eggs into people’s...

Frank Grillo (Kingdom) has signed on to star in the thriller The Dagon, from director Brad Anderson (The Machinist), which will soon head to Cannes. Independent Entertainment’s Head of International Sales Sarah Lebutsch will handle international at the Marché du Film, co-representing North American rights with CAA’s Nick Ogiony.

The film centers on Jack (Grillo), a father looking to control his family’s isolated rural life. When his eldest daughter comes of age, the family must confront the Dagon—the terrifying, deadly creatures that surround them every night. Pic reunites Anderson with producers Neal Edelstein (Mulholland Drive) and Mike Macari (Alone), following 2019’s Fractured, with an original screenplay penned by Peter Mattei (Outsiders). Production will kick off in the Pacific Northwest this fall.

“The Dagon is one of those rare scripts that delivers a story and characters you completely invest in, only to totally pull the rug from under you,...

Concordia Studio, the award-winning executive producers of this year’s Academy Award-winning Summer Of Soul, has announced four new exceptional filmmakers selected as part of the studio’s 2022 class of fellows for their signature program, The Concordia Fellowship.

The chosen recipients of the Fellowship are creators with the commitment to reshape the future of storytelling. Within the bespoke artist development program, each fellow receives a plan tailored to meet their specific creative goals, financial backing to develop a new project of their choosing, focused guidance and tools to build a sustainable career, and access to professional resources, use of the studio’s state-of-the-art facilities, and mentorship from Concordia executives.

Concordia fellows are the next generation of powerful storytellers and come from diverse racial, religious, and regional backgrounds. This year’s selected fellows who are recognized for their excellence in documentary filmmaking are Giselle Bailey,...

Exclusive: Snapchat’s parent company Snap has commissioned UK producer Barcroft Studios and Bipoc-owned Calico to make As I Am, an original series spotlighting the stories of Asian Americans.

Each of the six episodes follows a central character as they share their culture and history, and open up about their efforts to challenge and break down stereotypes, address ongoing discrimination, hate crimes, and terrorism.

Those featured include a stand-up comedian, a campaigner fighting to protect senior citizens from violence, and rapper and activist China Mac. Dino-Ray Ramos, host of Deadline’s New Hollywood podcast, also features.

As I Am is directed by Alice Gu, the feature documentary director behind The Donut King. Executive Producers are John Farrar for Barcroft Studios and Danny Lee for Calico. It is produced by Ellie Winstanley and Alex Mucadum for Barcroft Studios.

Lee said: “As a first-generation Asian-American who grew up in the face of racism,...

As Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month continues, several newer films with Aapi stars and/or creators are available on streaming. Check out their descriptions and how to watch them, below:

“The Donut King” (2020)

From filmmaker Alice Gu, “The Donut King” traces the twisty, unexpected journey of Cambodian refugee Ted Ngoy, who arrived in California in the 1970s and, through a mixture of diligence and luck, built a multi-milion dollar donut empire up and down the west coast.

After escaping the brutal Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, Ngoy started a new life in America as a church custodian and eventually parlayed hard luck and opportunity into the opening of his first donut shop in Orange County, California. His Christy’s Doughnuts became a rapidly expanding chain of success, and over the next decade, Ngoy also sponsored hundreds of visas for incoming Cambodian refugees and offered them steady employment in his donut shops.

Though Marvel has decided to consolidate all of its cinematic universe offerings onto Disney+, some outliers still live on for other streaming services. In May 2021, Hulu is set to premiere the latest non-canon Marvel series.

The animated comedy Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. is set to premiere on May 21 and stars Patton Oswalt as the titular Marvel villain. Oswalt’s Modok is every bit the devious floating head that he’s depicted as in the comics. He’s also your every day family man and the show will take on the format of a workplace sitcom. Sounds kinda fun! It’s no wonder that M.O.D.O.K. is the last Hulu Marvel show standing.

In non-Marvel offerings this month, Shrill will debut its third and final season on May 7. This comedy based on Lindy West’s memoir and starring SNL‘s Aidy Bryant has been a consistently bright presence on the streaming scene since...

Independent Lens, the PBS documentary anthology series, has announced its upcoming spring slate. The weekly program, produced in partnership with Itvs, will spotlight a range of topics, from criminal justice reform to the plight of the American dream.

Among the first to air will be “Philly D.A.,” an eight-episode deep dive into local-policy making and the fight for criminal justice reform. For the series, filmmakers Ted Passon and Yoni Brook gained unparalleled access into the office of Philadelphia Defense Attorney Larry Krasner as he and his team attempt to fight inequities in the justice system and institute real change. It premieres on April 20 on Independent Les and will be available to stream on the PBS Video App.

The first two hours of “Philly D.A.” premiered at Sundance Film Festival to strong reviews. In Variety’s review, Kiko Martinez called the series “compelling” and “empowering.”

“For anyone looking for a leader...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Thursday revealed the 366 feature films that are eligible for consideration at the 93rd Oscars, which are set to air April 25 live on ABC.

The total number of films is up from last year’s 344 films in contention.

This year’s list was compiled based on tweaked eligibility rules implemented because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has pushed the ceremony to its latest date ever. For this year, feature films had to open by February 28 in a commercial motion picture theater for a seven-day qualifying run in at least one of six metro areas: Los Angeles County, New York City, the Bay Area, Chicago, Miami and Atlanta. Drive-in theaters open nightly were included as qualifying venues, as were films intended for theatrical release but because of the lockdown made available first via streaming, VOD service or other broadcast.

Today’s news comes...

Vice is launching its own online documentary film festival with 11 feature-docs curated by the company’s co-founder Suroosh Alvi.

The youth-skewing media company is launching a site to house the films, which includes a number of Oscar contenders, with each film featuring a Q&a with Alvi and the filmmakers and subjects.

The films are The Toxic Pigs of Fukushima, Showgirls of Pakistan, We Hold the Line, Sakawa, Another Kind of Paradise, Dope Is Death, Mayor, The Donut King, Yung Lean – In My Head, Two Gods and The Prophet and the Space Aliens (full details below).

The collection will be preceded by a linear airing of The Toxic Pigs of Fukushima, which will air today, January 31 at 6:30am Pt, on Vice TV, with the site going live at 8am Pt.

The Short List With Suroosh Alvi is produced by Vice World News and distributed worldwide by Vice Distribution. Executive...

Another important moment in the awards season has come our way today. Yes, the Academy has released their lists of what’s eligible in a few of the Oscar categories. In short, we now know what’s up for Academy Award nominations in the Best Animated Feature, Best Documentary Feature, and Best International Feature categories. Until we get to a shortlist, everything is up for grabs, but now we know what’s at least in the running, and that’s good… Here now are the lists: Animated Feature Film “Accidental Luxuriance of the Translucent Watery Rebus” “Bombay Rose” “Calamity” “The Croods: A New Age” “Demon Slayer -Kimetsu No Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train” “Dreambuilders” “Lane” “On-Gaku: Our Sound” “Onward” “Over the Moon” “Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs” “Ride Your Wave” “Scoob!” “A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon” “Soul” “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run” “Terra Willy” “Trolls World Tour...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Thursday released its official entries for 2021 Oscars in the categories of Documentary Feature, Animated Feature and International Films. The takeaway: As expected, the eligible Documentary Feature lineup shatters the record for the most ever.

A total of 238 features are eligible for consideration in the Doc Feature category, breaking the previous record of 170 set in 2017. Last year, by contrast, 159 feature documentaries qualified. The Academy relaxed eligibility rules in light of Covid-19, so that any film that could make a claim of an intended theatrical release was deemed eligible. Earning awards from film festivals was an alternative way to qualify.

For the International Feature race, Lesotho, Sudan and Suriname are first-time entrants among the 93 eligible titles, the same total as last year. Earlier this year, the Academy’s Board of Governors boosted the number of films eligible for the shortlist from 10 to 15. Under the new rules,...

Gold Open has partnered with the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment Cape to launch the inaugural Gold List which honors the most outstanding Asian and Pacific Islander (Api) achievements in film each year. Gold Open is part of Gold House, which bolsters multicultural movies to box office success — most notably, the movement brought shine to Parasite and Crazy Rich Asians.

Gold List was created to move the needle forward in regards to the fair inclusion of APIs in mainstream media by helping Api films secure major award nominations and recognition — and it’s about time. With anti-Asian racism surging during the pandemic, a celebration of this kind is more than welcomed to help eclipse all the toxicity faced by Asians as well as other underrepresented voices. It should be noted that Asians are the fastest-growing immigrant population, have higher-than-average consumers of digital media, and the second most-frequent moviegoers per year.

The Oscars Best Documentary Feature race, which set a new record for entries in December when it passed the previous record of 170, has now left all previous years in the dust with 240 eligible films.

An additional 25 documentary features were placed in the members-only online screening room devoted to the category on Saturday, in what the Academy told voters would be “the final batch” of this year’s entries. It was the last of seven groups of documentaries that qualified and were placed into the screening room: 25 in July, 12 in August, 16 in September, 33 in October, 36 in November, a huge group of 93 in December and now 25 in January.

Academy rules put in place because of the Covid-19 pandemic made it easier than usual for documentaries to qualify for the Oscars this year, which opened the door for a field that obliterated the previous record, which was set in 2017. Films could qualify simply...

The Academy has added 93 more films to the members-only screening room devoted to entries in the Best Documentary Feature category, bringing the total number of eligible contenders to a record-shattering 215.

The previous record for entries was 170 in 2017. And this year’s crop of nonfiction films is expected to pass that number by an even bigger margin — at least 50 — once a final, smaller group of films is added to the screening room in January.

New eligibility rules that were passed in the wake of the Covid-19 theater closings made it easier for documentaries to qualify this year by allowing them to do so by playing at film festivals, even virtual ones, and by easing requirements for theatrical runs. In an email to members detailing the new additions, the Academy said, “The Documentary Branch Executive Committee felt it was important to be inclusive and supportive of documentary filmmakers in this unprecedented and challenging year.

If you were to look at the members-only screening room where films in contention for the Academy Award for Best Picture stream for voters, you might think that documentaries are going to do very well in the Oscars top category this year.

As of Dec. 7, there were 104 films in the Academy Screening Room for the Best Picture category, 26 of which were documentaries. That’s a full 25% of the field, which seems to suggest that nonfiction filmmakers and the companies that release them are optimistic that Oscar voters will recognize docs when they vote this year. After all, it costs $12,500 to put a film in that screening room — and all 26 docs that paid the cost to be there are also in the separate screening room available to the Academy’s Documentary Branch. Spots in that screening room are free for any film that qualifies in the Best Documentary Feature category.

Common sense,...

Exclusive: UK sales firm Independent has sold SXSW-winning documentary The Donut King to key markets with Vice picking the film up for the world excluding North America, UK/Ireland, Japan, Australia/New Zealand and Portugal.

New deals on the film also comprise UK and Ireland (Sky), Australia (Madman), Japan (Twin), Portugal (Nos Lusomundo) and Airlines (Aardwolf). Greenwich Entertainment released the film in North America last month, screening it across virtual cinemas.

The well-received feature, which chronicles the rags-to-riches-to-rags story of Cambodian refugee-turned-‘Donut King’ Ted Ngoy, was previously due to premiere in this year’s SXSW Documentary Feature Competition lineup before the festival’s cancellation due to Covid. The film went on to receive a Special Jury Award from the SXSW jury.

Vice will include the film on The Short List with Suroosh Alvi, an upcoming series from recently-launched Vice World News. The collection of acclaimed documentaries will be curated by Vice Media co-founder Alvi.

New Indie

Big month for Charlie Plummer, as the young star of “Lean on Pete” has lead roles in two critically-acclaimed films making their way to DVD and Blu-ray: “Words on Bathroom Walls” (Lionsgate) stars Plummer as a teenager overcoming a mental illness diagnosis to chase his dreams of becoming a chef. The drama’s impressive ensemble includes Taylor Russell (“Waves”), Andy Garcia, AnnaSophia Robb, Beth Grant, Molly Parker and Walton Goggins. In the YA adaptation “Spontaneous” (Paramount Home Entertainment), Plummer and Katherine Langford (“13 Reasons Why”) play high school seniors who manage to find love despite the fact that many of their classmates seem to be unexpectedly exploding.

New Foreign

The team behind the global anime smash “Your Name” returns with another transcendent love story in “Weathering With You” (Gkids/Shout Factory), an epic saga of rain, young love and potato-chip fried rice that includes the English-language dub that...

The 21st San Diego Asian Film Festival (Sdaff) announced the winners of its competition categories at the Sdaff Awards Gala held on Sunday, November 1, 2020. Winners were selected by an independent jury of filmmakers, curators, critics, academics, and other professionals.

Awards were distributed in the following feature film categories:

Grand Jury, Narrative Feature, Documentary Feature, George C. Lin Emerging Filmmaker, and Special Jury Mention.

Awards were also given in the short film categories:

Narrative, Documentary, Animation, and International.

Asian American Competition Jury Awards

Grand Jury Award

Katelyn Rebelo, Kira Dane’s Mizuko (Water Child)

Best Narrative Feature

Bassam Tariq’s Mogul Mowgli

Best Documentary Feature

Alice Gu’s The Donut King

Best Narrative Short

Nirav Bhakta’s Thank You, Come Again

Best Documentary Short

Yeon Park’s I Bought A Time Machine

Best Animated Short

Angeline Vu and Arlene Bongco’s Felt Love

Special Jury Mention (chosen from any category)

Jiayan...

During the latest decades, the concept of the “American Dream” has been criticized and even ridiculed as much as it was celebrated back in the 60s and the 70s. The success of a Cambodian immigrant who became the Donut King (aka Uncle Ted) reminds that the dream was actually a realistic goal at some point, through a rather tasteful approach.

“The Donut King” is screening at San Diego Asian Film Festival

Mixing animation, music, archival and historical footage, all excellently connected by Carol Martori’s editing, Alice Gu presents the whole story of Ted Ngoy, notwithstanding the historic/political events that resulted in him finding success in America. Going back and forth in time in a fashion that retains interest for the whole of its 90 minutes, the documentary presents the history of war that resulted in thousand of Cambodian migrating from their country, while also highlighting the struggles Ted’s...

A few movies may have been scared off by the pandemic (like Blumhouse’s “Halloween Kills” and MGM’s “Candyman” reboot), but Hollywood’s spooky season comes to a crescendo all the same this weekend with several new horror offerings.

While Sony is charging $24.99 to rent its watered-down teen-witch sequel “The Craft: Legacy,” theatergoers can see Amblin-produced haunted-iPad chiller “Come Play” in theaters for less. Paramount is giving audiences a choice with hoodoo horror movie “Spell”: See it in theaters or via PVOD.

Netflix subscribers have options as well, with new releases including Sundance midnight movie “His House” and Polish import “Nobody Sleeps in the Woods Tonight.”

To recap the other horror options that have come out this month, there are four “Welcome to the Blumhouse” movies on Amazon. Hulu had “Bad Hair” and “Books of Blood.” “Saw” co-creator Darren Lynn Bousman made “Death of Me,” while “Final Destination...

This weekend is Halloween and Focus Features is delivering some scares with the Jacob Chase-directed horror Come Play, which opens in theaters starting today.

Come Play is based on Chase’s 2017 short film Larry. The feature version which is dubbed as “a terrifying new vision in horror” follows Oliver (newcomer Azhy Robertson), a lonely young boy who feels different from everyone else. Desperate for a friend, he seeks solace and refuge in his ever-present cell phone and tablet. When a mysterious creature uses Oliver’s devices against him to break into our world, Oliver’s parents (Gillian Jacobs and John Gallagher Jr.) must fight to save their son from the monster beyond the screen.

The horror film was set to open in theaters on July 24, but like all movies, the release date shifted due to the pandemic. However, to release the movie on Halloween weekend seems more appropriate. Sony...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

City Hall (Frederick Wiseman)

In the opening shot of Frederick Wiseman’s National Gallery, a man polishes the floor in a room walled with masterpieces. Writing about the scene for Mubi recently, the critic Joseph Owen noted that “the politics of this institution exist in a subterranean passage: between its low-paid maintenance jobs and its disreputable oil sponsorships.” Petrodollars aside, it’s an observation that speaks in some way to any number of Wiseman’s films: that the souls of the institutions he so dedicatedly depicts are neither the heads on top, the public face or the multitude of working parts below but something malleable and indefinable in the middle.

How much do you know about donuts? According to guilty-pleasure doc “The Donut King,” on average, Americans eat 31 of the deep-fried confections per year. Taken as a whole, the donut industry generates somewhere on the order of $8 billion annually. An effortlessly educational first feature from Chinese American cinematographer Alice Gu, “The Donut King” is full of trivia about the beloved American treats, but the most surprising fact by far is that the vast majority of the donuts sold in California — some estimate as many as 90% — are made by Cambodian immigrants, and that phenomenon traces back to one man, Ted Ngoy.

The surprising story of how that came to be, and what it says about the American Dream are the real drivers of Gu’s drool-inducing debut, which assumes that everyone loves the sweet snacks, but most don’t think about who actually does the dunkin’. Buoyed by flashy editing and a West Coast hip-hop score,...

Why aren’t there more Dunkin’ Donuts in California? The coffee and baked goods chain is ubiquitous along the East Coast, mostly along the Northeast corridor, but seems strangely absent from the sunny shores of California. It seems like one of those mysteries that could never be solved, but there is actually a solid explanation, and a […]

The post ‘The Donut King’ Trailer: How a Cambodian Refugee Built (and Lost) the California Donut Empire appeared first on /Film.

Feast your eyes on the first mouth-watering trailer for the documentary The Donut King, which was a selection at this year’s SXSW festival. The directorial debut of Alice Gu, the film will be released in theaters and Virtual Cinemas on October 30th from Greenwich Entertainment. Ahead of the release, Ridley Scott has also boarded the project as an executive producer.

The documentary details entrepreneur Ted Ngoy’s rise from a penniless Cambodian immigrant to becoming a millionaire by crafting delicious sugary concoctions and owning several donut chain restaurants in Southern California, subsequently hiring many immigrants and refugees to work for him. Also touching on his sudden fall in riches brought about by numerous gambling debts, The Donut King becomes the tragic true story of one man achieving the American Dream only to fall victim to greed and lose almost everything he ever built.

In our review by John Fink,...

No one’s immigration story is the same. And in the new film “Farewell Amor,” we get a peek into how three different people from Angola adjust to life in the United States.

Read More: ‘The Donut King’ Trailer: A Cambodian Man Lives The American Dream In New Doc From Producer Ridley Scott

As seen in the trailer for “Farewell Amor,” the film follows the story of an Angolan man that is finally able to bring his wife and teen daughter to the US after setting up a life for himself over the course of 17 years.

Continue reading ‘Farewell Amor’ Trailer: An Angolan Family Adjusts To American Life In This Sundance Drama at The Playlist.

"Imagine a man, with nothing, penniless, come to the most powerful country in the world. And he built something." Greenwich Ent. has released an official trailer for the documentary The Donut King, which premiered at a few small film festivals (online) earlier this summer. From director Alice Gu, The Donut King tells the story of "donut king" Ted Ngoy's rise and fall (of the B & B Donuts empire). Ngoy's story is one of fate, love, survival, hard knocks, redemption. It’s the rags to riches story of a refugee escaping Cambodia, arriving in America in 1975 and building an unlikely multi-million-dollar empire baking America’s favorite pastry, the donut. Ted sponsored hundreds of visas for incoming refugees and helped them get on their feet teaching them the ways of the donut business. By 1979 he was living the American Dream. But, in life, great rise can come with great falls. This looks utterly fascinating,...

For decades, we’ve heard stories of immigrants arriving in the United States in search of the American Dream. Sadly, for many of them, the dream never comes to fruition. However, for Ted Ngoy, not only did the dream come true, but it also led to one of the lowest points in his life, as documented in the upcoming film, “The Donut King.”

Read More: ‘Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds’ Trailer: Werner Herzog’s Doc About Mythmaking Arrives In November

As seen in the trailer, “The Donut King” tells the story of the rise and fall of Ted Ngoy, a Cambodian immigrant that came over the US without any money and somehow was able to create a massive donut restaurant chain that earned him tens of millions of dollars and a special commendation from President George Hw Bush.

Continue reading ‘The Donut King’ Trailer: A Cambodian Man Lives The American...

If you ever wondered why there are so few Dunkin’ Donuts shops in California and Los Angeles compared to the rest of the country and why there are dozens of smaller donut shops everywhere, Ted Ngoy aka “The Donut King” is the reason why.

Ngoy is a Cambodian refugee who came to American in 1975 and founded an empire of donut shops across the West coast. But as the documentary “The Donut King” about his life shows he cooked up more than round pastries when he got here.

“The Donut King” is a documentary by Alice Gu and was an official selection of the canceled 2020 SXSW Film Festival, but it will now debut online and in select theaters from Greenwich Entertainment on October 30 after playing the rounds of a handful of fall film festivals.

Gu shows in the film that you can still see Ngoy’s influence in Los Angeles today...

Geena Davis’s inclusive Bentonville Film Festival has unveiled its jury prize winners for their sixth annual festival. The fest, which was a hybrid of in-person and virtual events, had its most diverse festival to-date with over 70 films where over 80% were directed by women, 65% Bipoc and 45% Lgbtqia+.

Isabel Sandoval’s Lingua Franca took home the top trophy, winning the jury award for Best Narrative Feature. The drama made history at the 2019 Venice International Film Festival Venice Days program as the first film directed and starring an openly trans woman of color to screen in competition. In July, Ava DuVernay’s Array Releasing acquired the title and it is set to debut on Netflix and open theatrically in select cities on August 26.

On the docu side, Alice Gu’s The Donut King was crowned Best Documentary. In March, the film won the award Special Jury Recognition for Achievement in Documentary Storytelling at SXSW.

Exclusive: Deadline has learned that Greenwich Entertainment has picked up North American rights to Alice Gu’s documentary The Donut King which earned a Special Jury Recognition for Achievement in Documentary Storytelling at SXSW. Greenwich is planning a theatrical release for later this year.

The Donut King tells the story of Ted Ngoy, a Cambodian refugee who arrived in Los Angeles in 1975 and changed everything we know about America’s favorite pastry, the donut. While building a multi-million-dollar empire that effectively kept Dunkin’ Donuts out of Southern California for decades, Ngoy became a hero of the Cambodian community by sponsoring hundreds of visas for incoming refugees.

“As the child of immigrant parents who came to America to seek a better life for themselves, making this film about Ted Ngoy achieving the American Dream was deeply personal for me,” said Gu. “Though The Donut King’s story takes place in America,...

Alice Gu’s moving documentary The Donut King isn’t just a sugary concoction. Although the documentary has its sweet moments, it’s a rather nuanced and often heartbreaking tale of Ted Ngoy, a Cambodian refugee who escaped to southern California in 1975 and through hard work and dedication built a donut empire. Affectionately known as “Uncle Ted,” the 77-year-old entrepreneur was originally a major in the Cambodian army and made the difficult decision to escape just as the Khmer Rouge led a bloody revolution. He and wife Chrissy land in La, working odd jobs nearly 24 hours a day until he stumbles into a donut shop and falls in love with a taste that reminds him of home. Determined to get into the business he takes a job at the fast-growing Winchell’s chain which grew alongside car culture, interstates, and urban sprawl in the 1950s as two donuts and a...