HEADLINES

International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk Pen Open Letter
Released via the ICFR website: “To the International Film Community: The cinema of Iran - the beautiful face of Iran and its culture, that the whole world fell in love with, that stood on its own defending Iran's people against prejudice and the passing currents of political conflicts - has been especially under attack these last days. The last weeks have seen a wave of arrests amongst the filmmaking and artistic communities in Tehran, with the iron grip of repression tightening itself around a courageous and growing number of individuals who have chosen to protest against a wide range of issues. This has been crystallised in recent days around the protesting against the disproportionate violence towards civilian protestors. It is Iran's filmmakers who defy a simplistic negative view of their country. It is these same filmmakers who work tirelessly to bridge the massive gap that politics have created. Whether the Islamic Republic chooses arbitrarily what to like and not to like, what to approve and not approve and what to take credit for when its filmmakers gain huge success on the international stage - one thing is clear from recent events– a huge crackdown is underway and Iranian film artists now have a clear statement as to where exactly the red line lies. In May, Firouzeh Khosrovani and Mina Keshavarz, two internationally renowned documentary filmmakers, were arbitrarily arrested after security forces raided their homes. Around the same time, this happened in the homes of at least 10 other documentary filmmakers and producers. The usual rituals of confiscating mobile phones, requisitioning of laptops and hard drives were observed. ‘Cinema is the most important art!” it has been said. In Iran today this statement can be taken one step further, especially in the context of documentary filmmakers who have become the conscience of the nation, who tell the essential stories and a mirror of society. Their documentary films try to hold to account those responsible for the ills in Iranian society.”

Florence Almozini Named Film at Lincoln Center Senior Director of Programming
Announced via press release: “Film at Lincoln Center (FLC) President Lesli Klainberg announced today that Florence Almozini has been appointed Senior Director of Programming following a comprehensive months-long search. In this role, Almozini will oversee the development and curation of year-round programs at Film at Lincoln Center, including film festivals, retrospectives, thematic series, and new releases, in addition to talks and special events. Almozini, currently a Senior Programming Consultant at FLC, succeeds Dennis Lim, who was elevated to Artistic Director of the New York Film Festival in March 2022. She reports to Klainberg and begins her new role on September 6, 2022…As a member of the executive leadership team, Almozini will work across Film at Lincoln Center to create long-range program plans that consider audience, desired impact, partnerships, and collaborations, as well as prioritize FLC’s goal to engage with new and diverse audiences. She will lead an experienced programming team and collaborate with FLC colleagues to produce talks, podcasts, and events that provide context for series and retrospectives.”

The Unraveling of an Award-Winning Documentary
Jane Arraf reports for The New York Times: “In a pivotal scene of the 2021 documentary Sabaya, two men rescue a young woman named Leila from a Syrian detention camp for the families of ISIS fighters, bundling her into a car and driving her to safety as shots are fired behind them. In interviews with BBC Radio and others, the film’s Iraqi-Swedish director, Hogir Hirori, recounted the tension of the rescue and the terror of the ride as they raced from Al Hol detention camp with the young woman, one of thousands of women and girls from Iraq’s Yazidi religious minority who had been sexually enslaved by ISIS. The dramatic scene helped the Swedish-government-funded film garner glowing reviews and awards, including best director for a foreign documentary at the Sundance Film Festival last year. But following an investigation by a Swedish magazine, Kvartal, Hirori has admitted that he was not there when Leila was freed, that he substituted another woman instead and that he lied to a BBC interviewer. The admissions follow findings by The New York Times last year that many of the traumatized women either did not initially consent to be in the film or refused but were included anyway.”

Grierson Trust reveals shortlist for 2022 British Documentary Awards
Andrew Tracy reports at Realscreen: “The Grierson Trust has revealed the shortlists in all categories for the 50th anniversary edition of the British Documentary Awards (a.k.a. the Griersons), ahead of the announcement of the final nominations on September 21. Awarding a range of multiplatform non-fiction works covering categories that include current affairs, arts, music, sports, history, science, natural history & environment, constructed reality and more, this year’s awards also see the return of the best cinema documentary category for theatrical docs, which was suspended in 2021 due to the pandemic.”

DOC NYC PRO Summer Workshops Continue!

ON THE FESTIVAL CIRCUIT
 

Competition Programme – Documentary Film of the 28th Sarajevo Film Festival
Announced via press release: “In the Competition Programme – Documentary Film of the 28th Sarajevo Film Festival, there are 22 films according to the choice of the programmer Rada Šešić. In Sarajevo, eight films will have world premieres, three international, one European, nine regional premieres and one B&H premiere. ‘Our program celebrates the richness of documentary forms: from the exciting cinema-verite styles where the camera is a ‘fly on the wall’ to the poetic, intimate diary documentaries and complex narratives that celebrate the creative use of archival footage. We also have an experimental film that explores new manners of using cinematic language and films that efficiently and with great imagination combine animation with documentary textures. Seeing some new authors and talents enter the documentary world scene is wonderful. Our program puts quite a large number of debutants under the limelight, and what I also proudly emphasize is a big presence of female directors and producers.’”

DokuFest Announces Competition Programme, «View From the World» Selections
Modern Times Review reports: “The 21st DokuFest has announced its full list of the films to be screened across its 8 competition sections. 109 selected films will be vying for the awards of the festival. Competition sections include Balkan Dox, Human Rights Dox, Truth Dox, and the International Feature Dox programme. Here, films such as All That Breathes (dir. Shaunak Sen), Dry Ground Burning (dir. Adirley Queirós & Joana Pimenta), and The Eclipse (dir. Nataša Urban) all feature. 15 films have also been carefully selected for the celebrated DokuFest special programme, «View From the World». Among the films are Sara Dosa’s Fire of Love, as well as the Cannes titles How to Save a Dead Friend and Mariupolis 2. Navalny, about famous Russian opposition politician, Alexei Navalny, following his poisoning and return to Russia will also be screened, as will the Tribeca-premiered Story of Bones. Other notable films include Yuri Ancarani’s Atlantide, Aliona van der Horst’s Turn Your Body to the Sun and Ruth Beckermann’s Mutzenbacher.”

Applications for DOC NYC's 40 Under 40
and Documentary New Leaders Close Soon!
 

MISCELLANEOUS
 

‘History Is Everything’: Making a Film About Black Maternal Mortality
Maya Salam writes in The New York Times: “‘Black lives matter because Black wombs matter!’ Shawnee Benton Gibson chanted from the stage during a National Action Network rally in Washington, D.C., in 2020. In October 2019, her daughter Shamony Gibson died just two weeks after giving birth. Her death, at age 30, was another grim emblem of a national crisis: the epidemic of Black maternal mortality. The United States is the most dangerous industrialized country to give birth, with Black women dying at three times the rate of white women. Not long after Shamony’s death, her mother, along with her partner, Omari Maynard, held a celebration of her life that they called Aftershock. Ahead of it, Paula Eiselt and Tonya Lewis Lee, the directors of a documentary that shares a title with that event, reached out to them. ‘We didn’t know them, but they were open for us to come and film,’ Lee said in an interview this month along with Eiselt. ‘That really started and jelled the film as it is now.’ Shortly after, the directors met Bruce McIntyre, who held a news conference to sound the alarm about maternal mortality and demand accountability for the death of his partner, Amber Rose Isaac, 26, who died postpartum in April 2020.”

The Troubling Story Behind Hulu's Victoria's Secret: Angels and Demons
Shannon Carlin writes for Time: "Hulu’s three-part documentary series Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons looks at the rise and fall of the legendary lingerie brand and its former billionaire CEO, Leslie Wexner. The sprawling docuseries, streaming now, delves in particular into Wexner’s relationship with wealthy financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. While Epstein’s ties to former presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, as well as Prince Andrew and Bill Gates, have been well publicized, his connection with Wexner flew under the radar until Epstein’s 2019 arrest on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges. (Epstein died by suicide that same year while awaiting trial.) For nearly two decades, Epstein was Wexner’s personal money manager, but few people understood just how close the two were. (Wexner broke ties with Epstein in 2007 following the financial advisor’s arrest for soliciting a minor for prostition a year prior. In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty and was given a much criticized lenient plea deal.) Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons looks to examine what relationship Wexner and his fortune may have played in Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking network. But without new insight from Wexner, who turned down multiple interview requests from filmmakers, viewers are left with many unanswered questions. Chief among them: why did Wexner continue to do business with Epstein despite his many red flags?”

How the Dynamic Editing of Don’t Think Sets the Bar for Concert Films
Callie Petch writes in Little White Lies: “Prior to the release of their 2007 concert film/arthouse documentary hybrid Mirior Noir, Arcade Fire’s Win Butler gave an interview to Pitchfork where he admitted his disinterest in most concert films: 'Even if you have a hundred cameras and it’s shot from every angle, there’s just a communal, visceral thing that never translates very well.' As a lifelong veteran of both concerts and concert films, I can’t say I fully disagree with Butler’s assessment. In many instances, including his own band’s Live at Earls Court in 2017, something ineffable gets lost in the transition and many directors don’t know how to translate a band’s identity to recorded film. Of course that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. More that everybody instead has to get creative in their presentational choices. To wit, Adam Smith’s work on The Chemical Brothers: Don’t Think from 2012 remains the gold standard in concert filmmaking through its blissful communication of the synaesthesia a Chemical Brothers gig seeks to invoke. That mixture of beatific musical rhythms aiming to pummel and entrance in equal measure, a multicoloured orgy of carefully-timed flashing lights in sync with the music, and a series of impressionistic visuals (sometimes psychedelic and other times comical) all combining with the aim of creating a sensory overload for crowd members to lose their inhibitions over. (And, not coincidentally, provides cover for the fact that the nature of theirs music means that ‘the Chems’ themselves can’t be active stage presences.)”