Documentary
Netflix Acquires Kitty Green’s “Casting JonBenet” Before Sundance Premiere
Streaming giant Netflix has acquired the rights to director Kitty Green’s documentary “Casting JonBenet” before its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this month. “Casting...
The Best Documentaries By and About Women in 2016
“13th” So many standout documentaries by and about women have been released this year. The films that follow are just some of our many favorites. These award-winning docs explore political...
Trailer Watch: Oprah Reunites with Her South African Academy Grads in “O Girls”
“I wanted to help girls who were like me,” Oprah Winfrey says in the trailer for the doc “O Girls.” Five girls from Oprah Winfrey’s Johannesburg, South Africa school, The Oprah Winfrey...
Berlinale’s Panorama Program is 55% Women-Directed (So Far)
The Berlin International Film Festival has announced 11 films for its 2017 Panorama program, and six of them are directed or co-directed by women, amounting to about 55 percent of the slate. While...
“The Bad Kids’” Principal Talks Education, Oprah, and Leadership
We’re incredibly excited to see Gal Gadot in “Wonder Woman” and Brie Larson in “Captain Marvel,” but as high school principal Vonda Viland proves, you don’t have to be a superhero to...
China Cracks Down on “Hooligan Sparrow” Subjects
“Hooligan Sparrow” director Nanfu Wang was awarded with IDA’s Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award at a ceremony held last Friday. This week she had some worrying updates to offer about her...
Elise McCave and Liz Cook Take On New Roles at Kickstarter
Kickstarter has announced two new advancements for women in their company. Elise McCave has joined Kickstarter as the new Director of Narrative Film. Liz Cook, who previously served as Documentary...
Oscars 2017: Documentary Feature Shortlist Includes “13th,” “Weiner,” & More
The Academy has revealed the 15 titles to advance in the race for feature documentary, and four of them are women-directed or co-directed, amounting to nearly 27 percent of the contenders. The five...
“The Killing Season” Warms Up a Cold Case
“The Killing Season”: A&E The new docuseries “The Killing Season,” on A&E, will feel familiar to anyone passingly acquainted with true-crime shows. Its ominous music, abrupt...
DOC NYC 2016 Women Directors: Meet Lara Stolman — “Swim Team”
Lara Stolman has produced news and documentaries that have aired on NBC, MSNBC, TLC, AMC, VH-1, and The New York Times’ website. Her film “Portraits of Survival,” which explored coming to...
DOC NYC 2016 Women Directors: Meet Leah Warshawski — “Big Sonia”
Leah Warshawski is a director and producer. Her award-winning first feature film, “Finding Hillywood,” screened at more than 65 festivals around the world. She is currently co-executive...
Trans Doc “Mala Mala” Lands International Distribution
The documentary “Mala Mala” follows the story of a number of transgender women living and fighting for rights in Puerto Rico. It premiered at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival, but had trouble...
DOC NYC 2016 Women Directors: Meet Sally Jean Williams — “Ken Dewey — This Is A Test”
Sally Jean Williams has produced and directed for the National Geographic Channel, Lifetime and Animal Planet/Discovery Networks. She worked with award winning global production house NHNZ filming...
DOC NYC 2016 Women Directors: Meet Kimi Takesue — “95 And 6 To Go”
Kimi Takesue is an award-winning filmmaker and the recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in Film. Takesue’s critically acclaimed Ugandan feature-length documentary “Where Are You...
Dogwoof Picks up Kirsten Johnson’s “Cameraperson” for the UK
Dogwoof has picked up Kirsten Johnson’s documentary “Cameraperson” for distribution in the UK and Ireland. Johnson, a long-time cinematographer, turned the camera on herself and her journeys...
Trailer Watch: Female Vets Confront the Aftermath of War in “After Fire”
A trailer has landed for “After Fire,” Brittany Huckabee’s new documentary examining the fastest-growing group of American veterans: women. “In the military, the focus is the mission,”...
Trailer Watch: An Amazing Principal Inspires “The Bad Kids”
Prepare to meet one of the most inspiring leaders you’ll ever see in action. She doesn’t wear a cape, challenge the rulers of her dystopian society, or wield weapons: She’s a high school...
Critics’ Choice Doc Award Winners: “13th,” “Weiner,” and “Southwest of Salem”
Ava DuVernay won big at the inaugural Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, held Thursday night in New York. Her Netflix doc, “13th,” won a number of major honors at the ceremony. “13th”...
Vanessa Gould’s “Obit.” Acquired by Kino Lorber
After a successful run on the festival circuit, Vanessa Gould’s “Obit.” has secured a theatrical release. A press release announced that Kino Lorber has acquired all U.S. rights to the...
IDA Doc Award Nominations: “13th,” “Weiner,” and More
The nominations for the International Documentary Association’s 2016 IDA Documentary Awards have been announced. Three of the six films competing for the Best Feature Award are directed or...
Women Directed 30% of Documentaries Submitted for Oscar Consideration
145 documentary feature films have been submitted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for consideration for the 89th Academy Awards, and according to our calculations, 44 of them are...
Christina Herrera’s “No Dress Code Required” Acquired by Outsider Pictures
Outsider Pictures’ specialty label Todo Cine Latino has acquired the North American distribution rights to Christina Herrera’s “Etiqueta No Rigurosa” (“No Dress Code Required”). The deal...
Nancy Buirski on Paying Tribute to a Legend in “By Sidney Lumet”
Nancy Buirski’s 2013 documentary “Afternoon of a Faun” had its World Premiere at the 51st New York Film Festival and International Premiere at the 64th Berlinale. She is the director,...
Amber Fares’ “Speed Sisters” Sets Release Date
“Speed Sisters” is racing into New York. First Run Features has announced that Amber Fares’ doc about the first all-women race car driving team in the Middle East will make its U.S. theatrical...
Trailer Watch: Women Chefs Are “Hungry” for Equality in New Documentary
“Have I ever worked under a women chef? I have not.” Rahm Fama, chef and host of the Food Network’s “Meat & Potatoes,” admits this fact in an interview for Logo’s upcoming...
New Docs Turn the Camera on Women Directors
Cady McClain, writer-director of “Seeing is Believing” Directors Cady McClain and Amy Adrion are turning the cameras towards themselves — in a sense. These two filmmakers are developing...
LFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Olivia Neergaard-Holm — “David Lynch: The Art Life”
Olivia Neergaard-Holm graduated from the National Film School of Denmark in 2013. Neergaard-Holm has worked as an editor on various Danish and international feature films and documentaries,...
DOC NYC’s Feature Film Lineup Is 44 Percent Women-Directed
The complete lineup for DOC NYC 2016 has been revealed, and the gender composition of directors is refreshingly even. Women-directed or co-directed 48 of 110 feature films screening at the fest, or...
LFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Laura Israel — “Don’t Blink — Robert Frank”
Laura Israel started editing award-winning commercials and music videos while a film student at NYU. By the time she graduated she had formed her own editorial company, Assemblage. “Windfall,”...
LFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Karen Bernstein— “Richard Linklater: Dream Is Destiny”
Karen Bernstein has produced various documentary projects, including “Body of War,” “Troop 1500,” “Children of Giant,” and episodes of “American Masters.” Bernstein received an Emmy...
Kirsten Johnson, Ava DuVernay, and More Nominated for Critics’ Choice Doc Awards
The Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association (BTJA) have announced the nominees for the inaugural Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards,...
Nanfu Wang to Recieve IDA’s Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award
The International Documentary Association (IDA) has announced the honorees for its upcoming 32nd Annual Documentary Awards. The special awards honorees, Screen Daily reports, will include...
NYFF 2016 Co-Directors: Linda Saffire and Adam Schlesinger— “Restless Creature: Wendy Whelan”
Linda Saffire has worked on numerous award-winning film and television productions. Among her feature documentary and film credits are “A Conversation with Gregory Peck,” a collaboration with...
Hamptons Film Fest 2016 Women Directors: Meet Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg — “Marathon: The…
Hamptons Film Fest 2016 Women Directors: Meet Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg — “Marathon: The Patriots Day Bombing” Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg’s credits include “Joan Rivers: A...
“Amanda Knox”: Making a Monster
“Amanda Knox”: Netflix “Inappropriate.” “Inexplicable.” “A little bit anarchist.” “This is not what grief looks like.” These are observations about a young woman’s...
Dawn Porter to Be Honored at DOC NYC Film Fest
Award-winning documentary filmmaker Dawn Porter will be honored at this year’s DOC NYC Film Festival, Realscreen reports. Porter will receive the Robert and Anne Drew Award for Documentary...
Trailer Watch: Ava DuVernay’s “The 13th” Critiques Mass Incarceration
Director Ava DuVernay (“Selma”) has secured the Opening Night spot at this year’s New York Film Festival, which runs from September 30-October 16, for her documentary “The 13th.” And now...
“Audrie & Daisy” Director Bonni Cohen Talks Cyberbullying and Sex Crimes
Interview by Diana Martinez Since co-founding Actual Films in 1998, Bonni Cohen has produced and directed an array of award-winning films, including “The Island President,” “Inside...
“Generation Startup” Directors on Pushing Boundaries and Starting Companies
“Generation Startup” directors Cynthia Wade and Cheryl Miller Houser shared their thoughts on starting their own companies, why it’s important for young people to pursue their business dreams,...
Trailer Watch: “Newtown” Doc Examines the Aftermath of Sandy Hook Tragedy
“I don’t think that any of us that were in there feel like anyone needs to know specifically what we saw,” says an interviewee in a newly released trailer for Kim A. Snyder’s “Newtown.”...
Trailer Watch: “Amanda Knox” Trial Gets the Doc Treatment
The Amanda Knox case had the world on edge, with viewers glued to the news. Was this young woman a murderer? Or trapped in a backwards justice system that punishes women for being sexual? “Either...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Alanis Obomsawin — “We Can’t Make the Same Mistake Twice”
Alanis Obomsawin’s directing credits include “70 Years of Resistance,” “Rocks at Whiskey Trench,” “Is the Crown at War with Us?,” “Hi-Ho Mistahey!,” and “Trick or Treaty?” In...
Trailer Watch: A Young Woman Disguises Herself to Play Sports in “Girl Unbound”
Erin Heidenreich’s documentary “Girl Unbound: The War To Be Her” tackles the story of a young Pakistani woman who lived as a boy for many years just to have the chance to play...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Maya Zinshtein — “Forever Pure”
Maya Zinshtein is an Israeli filmmaker and journalist originally from Russia. She has worked as a producer of documentaries, including “Thieves by Law” (2010), and as an investigative...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Erin Heidenreich — “Girl Unbound”
Director-writer-producer of documentaries, short films, and branded content, Erin Heidenreich’s voice has been shaped by the cultures she has immersed herself in across the globe. Set in the...
The Ties That Bond: Crowdfunding Picks
Julia Ngeow, writer and director of “Eudaemonia” Connecting with another person, really bonding with them, can be very difficult as an adult. Whether you’re making a new friend, attempting to...
Tori Amos Records Song for Netflix Doc “Audrie & Daisy”
Musician Tori Amos has written and recorded the song “Flicker” for Netflix’s upcoming documentary “Audrie & Daisy.” The documentary chronicles the lives of two underage teen girls in...
“Equal Means Equal” Director Kamala Lopez Talks Patricia Arquette and Fair Pay
Kamala Lopez has been named the 2015 Woman of the Year by the LA County’s Board of Supervisors and the Women’s Commission, one of 21 Leaders of the 21st Century by eNews, and the 2011 Woman of...
Trailer Watch: Kirsten Johnson Records Life Around the World in “Cameraperson”
A trailer has landed for “Cameraperson,” Kirsten Johnson’s award-winning new documentary. The film made its World Premiere at Sundance in January, and in June snagged top honors at the...
Trailer Watch: “Audrie & Daisy” Doc Tackles Sex Crimes and Cyber Bulling
Netflix has released a heartbreaking trailer for “Audrie & Daisy.” The documentary chronicles the lives of two underage teen girls in the aftermath of being sexually assaulted and having the...
San Francisco Film Society Announces Doc Film Fund Finalists
The San Francisco Film Society has announced the ten finalists for the 2016 SFFS Documentary Film Fund awards, which support feature-length documentaries in post-production. Six of the ten projects...