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Exclusive: Danny Ramirez, the fast-rising star soon to be seen in Captain America: Brave New World, will make his feature directorial debut with Baton, a sports drama that he’ll star in and also wrote.

Baton follows a soccer player, relentlessly pursuing his dream of playing professionally, who threatens his relationship with his sister after he is kicked off the team and exiled back to Miami. As they battle over their mother’s legacy, he will stop at nothing to get another chance at soccer glory, even if it means losing the only family he has left.

Victoria Alonso, former President of Physical and Post-Production, Visual Effects, and Animation at Marvel Studios, will produce in her first outing since departing the studio, in association with soccer superstar David Beckham’s Studio 99. Also producing are Ramirez and Tom Culliver for Pinstripes and Sergio Lira for Luz Films. CAA Media Finance reps rights to the film.

The British Independent Film Awards (Bifas) has unveiled the documentary and international film longlists for its 2024 ceremony, with films including in-videogame title Grand Theft Hamlet and Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winner Anora.

Grand Theft Hamlet is on the 12-strong best feature documentary list. The film is the debut feature from directorial duo Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane; it premiered at SXSW this year and was recently acquired for a UK-Ireland theatrical release. It follows two struggling actors who find solace from lockdown isolation by staging William Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the online Grand Theft Auto game.

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Spacey Unmasked, the Channel 4-Max documentary series detailing new allegations against the double-Oscar winner, has been nominated at the prestigious UK Grierson Awards, as the shortlist in each category is whittled down from eight docs to four.

Spacey Unmasked is nominated in the new Best Popular Culture Documentary category, which depicts people, events, movements or trends that have had a major impact on popular culture in recent years. The series is up against Arena – Being Kae Tempest, Big Zuu Goes to Mecca and Milli Vanilli, the latter of which is also nominated in the Best Music Documentary category.

From Mike Lerner and Dorothy Byrne, Spacey Unmasked detailed sexual misconduct allegations by 10 men against Spacey, which he denies, coming around a year after he was acquitted of sex crimes in a UK trial.

Meanwhile, Netflix’s American Nightmare, which came seventh in the streamer’s most-watched shows of the first...

David Beckham has opened up about the process of embarking on his Emmy award-winning documentary “Beckham,” saying the idea of it made him “nervous.”

“It worried me and it made me nervous and it made Victoria nervous,” Beckham said of the four-part doc, which dropped on the streamer last year and quickly became a hit. “I hated almost every moment of making it…it was very difficult.”

“It took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that I was going to make it but there was a few reasons why we wanted to make it,” he continued. “When I retired I wasn’t ready to talk about my career and what had happened. Through the pandemic, it’s when documentaries really exploded and it was coming up to the 10-year anniversary of my retirement from football.”

“As much as people think they know everything about us...

David Beckham has opened up about the “really difficult” experience of being interviewed for 50 hours for the hit Netflix doc, while he praised director Fisher Stevens for making him feel “uncomfortable.”

Netflix has faced questions over the authenticity of Beckham, given that it was co-produced by his Studio 99 banner, but Beckham reiterated the point today that he first watched the show at its premiere and was not involved with its editing.

At the Rts London today, he laid out how tough the filming period was.

“It was really difficult and took me a long time to come to terms with the fact I was going to make it,” said the former soccer star. “It made me nervous and it made [wife] Victoria nervous because as much as people think they know everything about us, they don’t.”

Beckham said Succession star Stevens “took convincing” to direct the four-parter, but the...

David Beckham will address the great-and-the-good of the UK TV industry at next month’s Rts London, with Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy set to give her first major keynote in the role.

The footballing icon is the latest in a lineup bursting at the seams with big names. He will be in conversation with Sister boss Jane Featherstone at the King’s Place event.

Beckham, a former Manchester United and England great, is the co-founder of Studio 99, the company behind the likes of Save our Squad with David Beckham and Ronnie O’Sullivan: The Edge of Everything along with last year’s Netflix documentary about the man himself. At Edinburgh last week, a Victoria Beckham doc was unveiled, also produced by Studio 99 alongside Sister-backed Dorothy Street Pictures.

The Rts London’s theme is The Next Episode: Keeping Our Creative Edge and Beckham is part of the final tranche to...

Oscar and BAFTA-winning Ukrainian feature 20 Days in Mariupol has picked up two nominations at the prestigious British Grierson Awards, along with docs on Wham!, Boris Johnson and Ronnie O’Sullivan.

Mstyslav Chernov’s movie charting the time the filmmaker spent in the besieged city at the start of the Ukraine War is nommed for Best Current Affairs Documentary and Best Cinema Documentary at the prestigious British gongs. It was selected as the Ukrainian submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards but was instead nominated in the Best Documentary Feature Film category, beating off competition from the likes of Bobi Wine: The People’s President, which is also nominated for two Griersons.

Other projects to accrue two nominations include Netflix’s Wham!, Channel 4’s The Rise and Fall of Boris Johnson and Studio 99’s Ronnie O’Sullivan: The Edge of Everything, which was...

The Grierson Trust has announced the shortlist for the 2024 British Documentary Awards, with the BBC coming top at 28 entries.

Channel 4 follows closely behind with 23, Netflix with 17, Sky Documentaries with eight and National Geographic with four. The shortlist spans 15 program and presenter categories to reflect the best documentary singles and series launched across broadcasters, streamers and online, as well as theatrical releases.

This year’s awards includes a new category titled best popular culture documentary, open to single documentaries or an episode from a strand or series that depicts people, events, movements or trends that have had a major impact on pop culture in recent years. Shortlisted entries in this category cover a hoax pedophile scare created by Internet users, one of the U.K.’s most prominent performance poets, and an investigation into allegations of abuse against Kevin Spacey.

The Arts category features several films about fashion industry icons...

Disney opens animation ‘Wish’; indie titles include ‘The Eternal Daughter’, ‘Girl’.

Ridley Scott’s historical epic Napoleon becomes the widest release ever in the UK and Ireland for Sony, starting in 716 cinemas this weekend.

The film, starring Joaquin Phoenix as the early 19th century French leader, tops the 690-location opening of Whitney Houston biopic Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody from December 2022.

Written by David Scarpa – who previously collaborated with Scott on All The Money In The World – Napoleon tells the story of Napoleon Bonaparte’s rise to power, and his relationship with Empress Josephine, played in the film...

David Beckham and his youngest son Cruz are hitting the red carpet!

The 48-year-old retired soccer pro and Cruz, 18, showed their support for English snooker player Ronnie O’Sullivan‘s new documentary The Edge of Everything on Tuesday night (November 21) at Odeon West End in London, England.

Keep reading to find out more…

Here’s the documentary’s synopsis: “Facing the end of a wildly successful but turbulent career, snooker legend Ronnie O’Sullivan is finally keeping the game at arms length. But over the course of a season leading to a career-defining tournament, and triggered by memories of the past, he finds himself spiralling back into the sport’s intense grip. Produced by David Beckham’s Studio 99 and directed by Sam Blair, Ronnie: The Edge of Everything is a thrilling documentary with unprecedented access to a true icon, as he grapples with his talent and his demons.”

Ronnie: The Edge of Everything...