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"How low can you go?" Netflix has revealed an official trailer for yet another true crime doc series called Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey, which will be available late this month on Netflix. From the Oscar-nominated director Joe Berlinger, this three-part docuseries investigates the mishandling of the case by law enforcement and the media. Everyone who was around in the late 1990s knows this story about JonBenét Ramsey - it was major news for a long time. And still is something that people will get all riled up about. There was also another provocative doc film about it called Casting JonBenet a few years ago. This new Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey series scrutinizes the missteps of law enforcement in Boulder, Co, and the media, highlighting the relatively straightforward measures that just could have potentially solve this haunting mystery. As the series unfolds, it poses a critical question: Will Colorado...

The nerve-wracking documentary “War Game” follows a 6-hour Situation Room re-creation of events of Jan. 6, 2021, albeit on a larger, more distressing scale. In the process, the film lays bare numerous weaknesses in America’s political infrastructure, but its most revealing subjects might not be who you think.

Directors Tony Gerber and Jesse Moss strip their opening scenes of context, as they follow two former U.S. soldiers in Washington, D.C. Dressed in tactical gear, they survey the U.S. Capitol and avoid the watchful eyes of police while discussing where they might attack. The conversation is concerning, but it’s soon revealed that these men — Chris Jones of the Marine Corps and Kris Goldsmith of the U.S. Army — are merely tacticians in a roleplaying game. However, once the full scope of their experiment fades into view, “War Game” becomes perturbing all over again.

The seeds for this game — designed...

It’s the location. When backpackers Hannah and Liv (Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick) get off the bus in the middle of nowhere in Kitty Green’s sophomore narrative film “The Royal Hotel,” you see the Outback in all its rugged splendor. And terror.

One look at their destination, a seedy two-story Royal Hotel with a pub for them to bartend each night, and you fear these two women are not going to come to a good end. The girlfriends are taking a brief detour from their Australia vacation to earn some extra cash. Their job: to handle a rowdy pub full of drunk and randy miners. These hardy travelers think they’re up to the task, but Hannah is a tad more wary than Liv. She drinks a little less, keeps an eye out, and when push comes to shove, as it inevitably does, picks up an ax.

Playing...

Martin Scorsese, Greta Gerwig and Emerald Fennell are among the filmmakers delivering screen talks at this year’s BFI London Film Festival, alongside Andrew Haigh, Lulu Wang and Kitty Green.

Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone, is a headline gala at the festival. He will be in conversation with filmmaker Edgar Wright about his body of work.

Gerwig, an accomplished actor, co-directed “Nights and Weekends” and made her solo feature directorial debut with “Lady Bird,” followed by “Little Women,” both of which scored Oscar and BAFTA nominations. Her latest effort, “Barbie,” is currently the biggest global hit of 2023 with more than $1.4 billion at the box office.

Fennell is the author of three books, writer of the second series of “Killing Eve,” co-creator of a revamped musical version of “Cinderella” and an actor whose work includes “Anna Karenina,” “Vita & Virginia,...

The 2023 Cannes Film Festival’s documentary slate featured probes into human rights abuses and profiles of unsung visionaries. At least one movie falls into both categories. This year marks the second time that the L’Œil d’or, first presented in 2015, has gone to two films. It’s also the first time in 19 years that nonfiction has competed for the Palme d’Or. Do you think any of the following titles 10 should be on our radar come Oscar season?

See Cannes 2023 round-up: Top 25 movies to emerge from this year’s festival [Photos]

“Anita”

Anita Pallenberg is known by a small group, and still only as a muse rather than an actress, fashion icon and writer. Laird Borrelli-Persson (Vogue) describes her as a “troubled woman who has come close to being mythologized out of existence and sidelined by the juggernaut that is The Rolling Stones.” Alexis Bloom and Svetlana Zill made “Anita...

Netflix learned an important lesson from the mammoth success of "Making a Murderer," and that lesson was that people love murder shows. In the almost 7 years since "Making a Murderer" debuted on the streaming service, Netflix's collection of true crime originals has exploded, expanding beyond the straightforward subject matter of murder mysteries to include stranger hits like "Tiger King," "The Tinder Swindler," and "Don't F**k With Cats."

There have also been more experimental takes on the familiar genre, like "Casting JonBenet," a film that approached the well-documented horror of six-year-old JonBenét Ramsey's still-unsolved murder through the process of auditioning local actors from the Ramseys' home town Boulder, Colorado, for a reenactment of the murder.

But perhaps the best offering from Netflix's true crime collection is a show that dropped the "true" part entirely. Mockumentary series "American Vandal" was a deft examination of how Gen Z has been shaped...

Photo: ‘The Serpent’/Netflix In the last 20 years or so true crime has become an increasingly popular form of entertainment, with people flocking to documentaries, films, and television shows about serial killers and large crime sprees. Netflix, in particular, has capitalized on this popularity, offering a wide range of true crime entertainment with documentaries such as ‘Casting JonBenet’, films like ‘Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile’, and shows such as ‘Making a Murderer’, all of which have been extremely successful and were very well done. However, their newest entry into this genre, the limited series ‘The Serpent’, does not meet the same mark as the rest of what Netflix has to offer. Related article: The Complete List of 2021 Oscar Nominations – Celebrations, Surprises & Snubs | The Show Must Go On Related article: April Movies Release Schedule: The Most Accurate List of Every Movie Coming Out in April – Live Updates The Premise ‘The Serpent...

The film is the first narrative feature from ’Casting JonBenet’ director Kitty Green.

Vertigo Releasing has picked up UK and Ireland rights to The Assistant, the first narrative feature from Casting JonBenet director Kitty Green, from Protagonist Pictures.

The #MeToo-inspired drama, which stars Julia Garner (Ozark) and Matthew Macfadyen (Succession), will be released in the UK and Ireland on April 3, 2020.

The film follows one day in the life of an aspiring film producer (Garner), who has landed her dream job as a junior assistant to a powerful entertainment mogul. As her first day goes on, she grows increasingly aware of...

The film is the first narrative feature from ’Casting JonBenet’ director Kitty Green.

Vertigo Releasing has picked up UK and Ireland rights to The Assistant, the first narrative feature from Casting JonBenet director Kitty Green, from Protagonist Pictures.

The #MeToo-inspired drama, which stars Julia Garner (Ozark) and Matthew Macfadyen (Succession), will be released in the UK and Ireland on April 3, 2020.

The film follows one day in the life of an aspiring film producer (Garner), who has landed her dream job as a junior assistant to a powerful entertainment mogul. As her first day goes on, she grows increasingly aware of...

Bleecker Street has acquired “The Assistant,” the story of an entry-level employee in the entertainment industry that made headlines for its look at the movie business in the #MeToo era. The film debuted at this year’s Telluride Film Festival. Bleecker will release it in theaters on Jan. 31, 2020.

Emmy winner Julia Garner (“Ozark”) stars as a recent college graduate and aspiring film producer who gets a job working for an entertainment mogul who is very reminiscent of Harvey Weinstein. Over the course of her daily routine of getting coffee and running errands, she becomes increasingly aware of the culture of abuse where she works. Kitty Green (“Casting JonBenet”) wrote and directed the film.

“I’m so thrilled that ‘The Assistant’ is in the hands of a team with such passion and vision for sharing it with the world,” Green said in a statement.

The film is produced by Green, Scott Macaulay,...

Harvey Weinstein doesn’t appear in “The Assistant,” and nobody mentions him by name, but make no mistake: Director Kitty Green’s urgent real-time thriller marks the first narrative depiction of life under his menacing grip. “Ozark” breakout Julia Garner is a revelation as the fragile young woman tasked with juggling the minutiae of the executive’s life, arranging a never-ending stream of airplane trips, staving off angry callers, and picking up the trash left in his wake.

Beyond a few unfocused glimpses of a hulking figure roaming his office in the background, the Weinstein of “The Assistant” is a phantom menace who barrels down on the young woman’s life, but this fascinating psychological investigation doesn’t allow him to hijack a story that belongs to her. “The Assistant” doesn’t document the specifics of Weinstein’s abuses recounted by so many over the past two years; instead, it...

It’s a woefully familiar situation when the dramatic arts try to engage with current events, only to falter because they arrive before audiences are willing to confront the real-deal traumas they seek to explore. “Too soon,” say the critics, as if engaged filmmakers were just a bunch of ambulance-chasing opportunists. But in the case of Australian director Kitty Green’s “The Assistant” — an exasperatingly low-key look at gender dynamics in the workplace that began as an exposé of sexual misconduct on college campuses and morphed into a commentary on the Harvey Weinstein scandal — the world is more than ready, and it’s more a case of “too little, too late.”

Yes, society must push itself to understand how an entire industry could ignore — much less accept — predatory and misogynistic practices. But we can’t pretend that the evidence wasn’t hidden in plain sight. More daring films than this...

In the opening minutes of The Assistant, Jane (Ozark’s Julia Garner), an entry-level employee at a well-known film production company, is on her hands and knees, cleaning her boss’ office in the predawn hours, before any other employees arrive. She gathers up used plates and cups for washing, wipes crumbs and white powder from a coffee table. She dons rubber gloves to spot-treat the sofa, the sickening suggestion of what’s taken place there the night before hovering in the air. She lifts a stray earring from the carpet...

Currently in green light mode on her third feature, formal storytelling will once again receive the boundary pushing nip and tuck inventiveness of Kitty Green who arguably gave us one of the best films of 2017 with Casting JonBenet. Here she makes a move into narrative features with a hot potato item that may make Steven Shainberg’s Secretary feel pedestrian and will certainly bring out the horror from the seductive folklore texts a la Biskind’s Down and Dirty Pictures. A timely project that saw Green extensively research “hundreds of public records and documents, and conducting scores of interviews, collecting a huge reservoir of impressions of the lived, daily experience of decades of work experience of the hundreds of employees subjected to the work environment dominated by Weinstein,” the Pov will likely be an amalgamation of several of Harvey Weinstein’s assistants (ode to her previous works), and Deadline reported...

The secretive Harvey Weinstein assistant project may have found its lead in Ozark star Julia Garner.

The actress is in talks to star in Kitty Green's (Casting JonBenet) currently untitled movie, which will be told from the perspective of a real-life Weinstein underling.

James Schamus (Brokeback Mountain), the former Focus Features head turned producer, is on board to produce alongside Scott Macaulay.

The Hollywood Reporter revealed back in September that the project was being secretly shopped around at this year's Tiff. The project is only one of several inspired by the well-documented fall of the movie mogul, including documentaries ...

The secretive Harvey Weinstein assistant project may have found its lead in Ozark star Julia Garner. 

The actress is in talks to star in Kitty Green's (Casting JonBenet) currently untitled movie, which will be told from the perspective of a real-life Weinstein underling.

James Schamus (Brokeback Mountain), the former Focus Features head turned producer, is on board to produce alongside Scott Macaulay.

The Hollywood Reporter revealed back in September that the project was being secretly shopped around at this year's Tiff. The project is only one of several inspired by the well-documented fall of the movie mogul, including documentaries ...

Mia Wasikowska in ‘Judy and Punch’ (Photo: Ben King)

A record six Australian feature films will screen at the Sundance Film Festival, with Animals, Judy and Punch, Little Monsters, Top End Wedding and I Am Mother having their world premieres in the Utah-based festival, which runs from January 24 – February 3.

In addition, Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale will have its North American premiere after winning the special jury prize and the Marcello Mastroianni award for best new young performer for Baykali Ganambar at this year’s Venice Film Festival.

That surpasses the previous record of five in 1997. Sundance has been a great launching pad for Australian productions including David Michod’s Animal Kingdom in 2010 (World Cinema Jury Prize), Greg McLean’s Wolf Creek in 2005, Scott Hicks’ Shine in 1996, Kitty Green’s Casting JonBenet (2017) and Nash Edgerton’s Mr Inbetween (2018).

“The six films selected by Sundance display the array of stories Australians...

James Schamus has been through many career stages. For 12 years, he ran Focus Features, bringing the sensibilities of a veteran independent producer and cinephile into the studio arena, where he shepherded along revered arthouse hits ranging from “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” to “Brokeback Mountain.” Focus owner Universal fired Schamus during a period of restructuring for the company in 2012, and he chose to avoid the same path for his next move.

“After I got fired, I made a very conscious decision not to keep my status, figure out how to get my ticket to the Academy Awards, or attach myself to all these projects as an executive producer so I could be on the red carpet,” he said, during a public conversation at the 10th annual GlobeScreen Conference in Manhattan on Wednesday night. “I decided to take the smallest financing deal that I could. It was hard.” He turned a lot of offers.

Casting JonBenet filmmaker Kitty Green is in pre-production on her next film, a feature-length fictional work, that tells the story of the day in the life of one of Harvey Weinstein’s assistants.

The new film, currently untitled, is produced by the same team that made Green’s Casting JonBenet: Scott Macaulay, and James Schamus.

To create the film, Green spent nearly a year researching hundreds of public records and documents, and conducting scores of interviews, collecting a huge reservoir of impressions of the lived, daily experience of decades of work experience of the hundreds of employees subjected to the work environment dominated by Weinstein. Casting and other production details will be announced soon.

Says Green: “What was perhaps the hardest part of all my researches and discussions was the repetitive nature and banality of Weinstein’s reign, which lasted over thirty years, over the hundreds of young people – and...

Hip-hop biopics are a Hollywood mainstay. But until now, the subgenre has largely favored male rappers (N.W.A., Tupac, Biggie, Eminem) and it’s been rare to find a movie that successfully cements the legacy of a female artist. Sundance hit “Roxanne Roxanne” changes that, bringing to life the story of ‘80s sensation Lolita Shante Gooden, better known as Roxanne Shante, hip-hop’s first commercially successful female artist.

Available to stream now on Netflix, the biopic offers an authentic portrayal of the talented Queens-bred teen’s unlikely rise to stardom and the inevitable hurdles she’s forced to overcome along the way. Featuring an acclaimed lead performance by newcomer Chanté Adams (who was awarded 2017 Sundance Special Jury Prize for Breakthrough Dramatic Performance), the film details Shante’s time living in the projects with her mom and three sisters and the life-changing invite she received from a neighbor to freestyle on one of his tracks.

Chris here, with more Oscar bake off lists. Today we have the 15 films advancing in the Documentary Feature race, many of which we have covered here at The Film Experience in Glenn's column Doc Corner. The eventual lineup could include two recent Honorary Oscar winners: Frederick Wiseman (Ex Libris: New York Public Library) and Agnès Varda (Faces Places, with Jr), neither of who had ever been nominated in the category. Al Gore could be returning to the Oscars, as the follow-up to winning climate change doc An Inconvenient Truth has also advanced. Take a look at the rest of the list:

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail Chasing Coral City of Ghosts Ex Libris: New York Public Library Faces Places Human Flow Icarus An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power Jane La 92 Last Man in Aleppo Long Strage Trip One of Us Strong Island Unrest

Some beloved players that missed the lineup include Kedi,...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the 15 films selected for the Documentary Oscar shortlist this evening. Documentary branch members will now select the five nominees from these 15 finalists that will vie for this honor at the 90th Oscars in March.

Expected titles such as “Chasing Coral,” “City of Ghosts,” “Faces Places,” “Jane,” “Icarus,” and “Last Men in Aleppo” made the cut while potential contenders such as “Step,” “Risk,” “Kedi,” “The Force,” “Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond,” “Casting Jonbenet” and “Nobody Speak” did not.

Continue reading ‘Jane,’ ‘Icarus’ & ‘Faces Places’ Among 15 Documentary Oscar Finalists at The Playlist.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ documentary branch has advanced 15 films out of 170 submissions to vie for the final five Documentary Feature nominations.

As expected, Brett Morgan’s “Jane,” Agnes Varda and Jr’s “Faces Places,” two Syria non-fiction features, “Last Men in Aleppo” and “City of Ghosts,” two social action environmental documentaries, “An Inconvenient Sequel” and “Chasing Coral,” and timely Russian doping expose “Icarus” made the shortlist.

Read More:2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Documentary Feature

Netflix landed four films, including “Chasing Coral,” “Icarus,” “One of Us” and transgender filmmaker’s Yance Ford’s black lives matter documentary “Strong Island.” Amazon delivered Grateful Dead movie “Long Strange Trip,” which qualified even at four hours long, as well as “City of Ghosts” and Ai Weiwei’s immigration feature “Human Flow,” which was backed by Participant Media along with Paramount’s “An Inconvenient Sequel.”

Four features were directed or co-directed by women,...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ documentary branch has advanced 15 films out of 170 submissions to vie for the final five Documentary Feature nominations.

As expected, Brett Morgan’s “Jane,” Agnes Varda and Jr’s “Faces Places,” two Syria non-fiction features, “Last Men in Aleppo” and “City of Ghosts,” two social action environmental documentaries, “An Inconvenient Sequel” and “Chasing Coral,” and timely Russian doping expose “Icarus” made the shortlist.

Read More:2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Documentary Feature

Netflix landed four films, including “Chasing Coral,” “Icarus,” “One of Us” and transgender filmmaker’s Yance Ford’s black lives matter documentary “Strong Island.” Amazon delivered Grateful Dead movie “Long Strange Trip,” which qualified even at four hours long, as well as “City of Ghosts” and Ai Weiwei’s immigration feature “Human Flow,” which was backed by Participant Media along with Paramount’s “An Inconvenient Sequel.”

Four features were directed or co-directed by women,...

Last year’s section of sixteen included such enthralling docu items Casting JonBenet, City of Ghosts, The Force (Directing Award) and U.S.

Continue reading...

One hundred seventy features have been submitted for consideration in the Documentary Feature category for the 90th Academy Awards. That’s 25 more than 2016. Assuming they all book their qualifying runs in New York and Los Angeles, the members of the documentary branch have just a few more weeks to see as many films as possible and file their votes for the shortlist of 15 to be announced in December. They’re each supposed to watch an assigned list of about 20 films, plus as many more as they can.

Read More:2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Documentary Feature

It’s possible for documentaries to also vie for Best Picture, although it is rare. Among this year’s most lauded features are “City of Ghosts,” “Faces Places,” “Jane,” “Kedi” and “One of Us.”

The submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are:

“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”

“Aida’s Secrets”

“Al Di Qua”

“All the Rage...

One hundred seventy features have been submitted for consideration in the Documentary Feature category for the 90th Academy Awards. That’s 25 more than 2016. Assuming they all book their qualifying runs in New York and Los Angeles, the members of the documentary branch have just a few more weeks to see as many films as possible and file their votes for the shortlist of 15 to be announced in December. They’re each supposed to watch an assigned list of about 20 films, plus as many more as they can.

Read More:2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Documentary Feature

It’s possible for documentaries to also vie for Best Picture, although it is rare. Among this year’s most lauded features are “City of Ghosts,” “Faces Places,” “Jane,” “Kedi” and “One of Us.”

The submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are:

“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”

“Aida’s Secrets”

“Al Di Qua”

“All the Rage...

Netflix is adding two new documentaries to its crowded 2017 roster: “Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold.” and “Voyeur,” both of which will premiere at the 55th New York Film Festival and launch globally on Netflix later this year.

Read More:Documentary, Now: Three Rock Stars Who Run The Fast-Changing Nonfiction World

Author Joan Didion’s nephew, actor-director-producer Griffin Dunne, has been laboring on this portrait of his aunt for years. The film spans more than 50 years of essays, novels, screenplays, and criticism, as Didion chronicled America’s cultural and political tides, from the literati scene of New York in the 1950s and early ’60s to her home state of California, where she wrote “Slouching Toward Bethlehem” and “The White Album” and such film scripts as “The Panic in Needle Park.”

Dunne unearths a trove of archival footage and interviews his aunt at length about the many people she met and...

Netflix is adding two new documentaries to its crowded 2017 roster: “Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold.” and “Voyeur,” both of which will premiere at the 55th New York Film Festival and launch globally on Netflix later this year.

Read More:Documentary, Now: Three Rock Stars Who Run The Fast-Changing Nonfiction World

Author Joan Didion’s nephew, actor-director-producer Griffin Dunne, has been laboring on this portrait of his aunt for years. The film spans more than 50 years of essays, novels, screenplays, and criticism, as Didion chronicled America’s cultural and political tides, from the literati scene of New York in the 1950s and early ’60s to her home state of California, where she wrote “Slouching Toward Bethlehem” and “The White Album” and such film scripts as “The Panic in Needle Park.”

Dunne unearths a trove of archival footage and interviews his aunt at length about the many people she met and...

Getting out early can be an advantage in the documentary race, which is often front loaded at January’s Sundance Film Festival. While a raft of movies made their mark, the question is which ones can sustain support through the end of the year.

Among that festival’s breakouts were three Syria documentaries. Daring and timely “City of Ghosts” (July 14, A & E/Amazon Studios), which is Matthew Heineman’s follow-up to his Oscar-nominated border drug war thriller “Cartel Land,” will get a major push. Any footage from Syria came from the fearless Raqqa journalists he tracked through Turkey and Germany, where they discover that they are not necessarily safe — anywhere.

It remains to be seen if there will be room for more than one Syrian documentary. HBO Documentary Films is forgoing Emmy consideration for “Winter on Fire” nominee Evgeny Afineevsky’s harrowing “Cries From Syria” (March 10, HBO), planning an Oscar push this fall.

Alec Bojalad May 23, 2019

In its ongoing quest for streaming media dominance, Netflix has established an impressive roster of documentaries. Here are the best.

Editor's Note: This post is updated monthly. Bookmark this page and come back every month to see what other excellent documentaries join the Netflix roster.

Updated for June 2019.

You can see a complete list of new Netflix releases here.

At some point during this decade, it seems like all of Western culture came to an unprecedentedly unanimous decision all at once: Documentaries are dope.

Just scroll through IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes and see how long it takes before you find a documentary with bad reviews. They're relatively rare! Perhaps because documentarians invest so much time in their subjects that it's nearly impossible to turn out a bad product and perhaps just because real life really is that much stranger than fiction.

The point is, we now need...

Bryan Fogel and Jeff Orlowski explain the appeal of Netflix for doc-makers.

Documentary-makers heading to Sheffield Doc/Fest this weekend with Netflix-backed films have said there is “no silver bullet” to quell distribution dilemmas casting a shadow over factual programming.

The distribution landscape for non-fiction docs and series has transformed radically in the past five years due to SVoD entrants flush with cash, leaving many directors with issue-driven projects struggling to identify the best outlets.

Speaking at a Sundance London event last week, directors Bryan Fogel (Icarus) and Jeff Orlowski (Chasing Coral) both said they “laboured over” selling their films to Netflix in lieu of traditional broadcast deals.

“I wanted the film to be truly seen,” said Fogel. “Netflix presses a button and it’s in 190 countries. You know that literally millions of people will see your film.”

Netflix’s reported $5m (£3.85m) deal for Icarus is at the top end of what it will pay for...

Bryan Fogel and Jeff Orlowski explain the appeal of Netflix for doc-makers.

Documentary-makers heading to Sheffield Doc/Fest this weekend with Netflix-backed films have said there is “no silver bullet” to quell distribution dilemmas casting a shadow over factual programming.

The distribution landscape for non-fiction docs and series has transformed radically in the past five years due to SVoD entrants flush with cash, leaving many directors with issue-driven projects struggling to identify the best outlets.

Speaking at a Sundance London event last week, directors Bryan Fogel (Icarus) and Jeff Orlowski (Chasing Coral) both said they “laboured over” selling their films to Netflix in lieu of traditional broadcast deals.

“I wanted the film to be truly seen,” said Fogel. “Netflix presses a button and it’s in 190 countries. You know that literally millions of people will see your film.”

Netflix’s reported $5m (£3.85m) deal for Icarus is at the top end of what it will pay for...

Film opens this week in Us through Bleecker Street.

Meridian Entertainment has acquired Chinese theatrical rights from Sierra/Affinity to the drama Megan Leavey starring Kate Mara.

Ld Entertainment produced and financed the film, which opens in the Us this week via Bleecker Street and is based on the true life story of a young Marine officer and her military combat dog.

Leavey was assigned to the Army’s K9 unit after a disciplinary hearing and formed a strong bond with a particularly aggressive dog, Rex. Together, they saved many lives on deployment in Iraq. Edie Falco, Ramón Rodríguez, Bradley Whitford, and Common round out the key cast.

Gabriela Cowperthwaite of Blackfish fame directed from a screenplay by Pamela Gray and Annie Mumolo and Tim Lovestedt.

Meridian Entertainment will release the film through its distribution arm United Entertainment Partners in the fourth quarter of the year.

Nicholas Sherry negotiated the deal on behalf of Sierra /Affinity.

“We...

'Tidelands.'

Two years after its launch in Australia, Netflix has announced its first local series, Tidelands..

To be produced by Brisbane.s Hoodlum Entertainment,.Tidelands is a supernatural crime drama.penned by Stephen M. Irwin (Secrets & Lies). Tracey Robertson, Nathan Mayfield and Leigh McGrath will executive produce, with production expected to kick off in Queensland next year.

The synopis: a former criminal who returns home to the fishing village of Orphelin Bay. After a body washes ashore, she must uncover town.s secrets and investigate its strange inhabitants: .a group of dangerous half-Sirens, half-humans called .Tidelanders..

.We.re proud these strong Australian storytellers are bringing their vision to the first Australian Netflix original series,. said Netflix's vice president of international original series Erik Barmack.

.We can.t wait to bring the mystery of Tidelands to our members around the world...

Robertson said the Hoodlum team were excited to partner...

Keep up with the always-hopping film festival world with our weekly Film Festival Roundup column. Check out last week’s Roundup right here.

Lineup Announcements

– The Human Rights Watch Film Festival will be presented June 9 – 18, with 21 topical and provocative feature documentaries and panel discussions that showcase courageous resilience in challenging times. In an era of global advances by far-right forces into the political mainstream, assaults on the free press, and the rise of “citizen journalism,” festival organizers hope that the films in this year’s program can serve as inspiration and motivation for the audience, from seasoned activists to those searching for a role in local and global movements.

Now in its 28th edition, the Human Rights Watch Film Festival is co-presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and IFC Center. All screenings will be followed by in-depth discussions with filmmakers, film subjects, Human Rights Watch researchers, and special guests.

Image Source: ABC News JonBenét Ramsey was only 6 years old when she was brutally murdered in her own home in December 1996, but the case has continued to fascinate the public in the more than 20 years since then. JonBenét's father, John, was the one who found her body on Dec. 26 in the basement of their Boulder, Co, home roughly eight hours after her parents reported her missing after they found a ransom note. An autopsy of JonBenét's body revealed that she was struck in the head and strangled to death. Police also later confirmed that she had been sexually assaulted. Unlike other murder cases that go cold after years of being unsolved, JonBenét's has done the opposite and only continues to heat up. There have been a number of documentaries and TV specials about the murder, and most recently, Netflix released Casting JonBenet, its chilling take on why the intense media...

By Glenn Dunks

Casting JonBenet is a dozen films in one. At only 80 minutes, that’s a lot; and yet it never feels over-stuffed, overwrought, or like it is collecting and abandoning subplots (a frustrating trend of some recent documentaries). At its most basic level, Kitty Green’s film is a documentary about the casting of a film about JonBenet Ramsey. It is also a documentary about the Ramsey family and an investigation, of sorts, into the case. It’s a prank, a look into the making of a (seemingly) fake movie. But that's not all...

Director Kitty Green talks to Awards Daily about bringing the groundbreaking and controversial Casting JonBenet documentary to fruition. Casting JonBenet polarizes audiences and critics since premiering last week. The documentary,...

Kitty Green’s study of the unsolved murder of the child beauty queen is a multilayered masterpiece – and clever Netflix have acquired it

The risk of repeating oneself too frequently in a weekly column is one to be carefully considered, though sometimes the vagaries of the release schedule make it unavoidable: for the second week running, a Netflix premiere handily trumps any new offerings on the DVD shelf. The streaming giant’s intelligent taste in documentary cinema has been known for some time now, but in grabbing Casting JonBenet straight from the festival circuit – it premiered in Sundance only three months ago – the company has outdone itself.

Notwithstanding its absence from cinemas, Kitty Green’s film is the most brilliantly singular nonfiction achievement we’ve seen on any screen this year: a sinuous, multi-mirrored meditation on tragedy, exploitation and personal and communal grief, as explored through complex layers of confession and artifice.

When it comes to documentary filmmaking, the issue of perspective is often of paramount importance. A great deal of sensitivity and tact is required in telling any true story, especially one as fraught and horrifying as the unsolved murder of JonBenét Ramsey, the six-year-old pageant queen who was murdered in 1996 in Boulder, Colorado. Kitty Green opts for a peculiar and altogether unsettling approach in her new documentary Casting JonBenet, one that utilizes a wide canvas of perspectives to approach some measure of understanding. Like a great deal of worthwhile documentaries, it offers numerous suggestions without ever providing any concrete answers, and leaves the viewer to sift through the evidence, so to speak.

Said evidence is provided by various actors — mostly consisting of Boulder residents — who are ostensibly auditioning for a filmed reproduction of the murder and unsolved investigation. This ersatz movie is, as may be surmised, a mere pretense to...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

The Age of Shadows (Kim Jee-woon)

Eyebrows were raised when it was announced that South Korea will submit the as-yet-unreleased espionage thriller The Age of Shadows for Oscar consideration instead of Cannes hits The Handmaiden and The Wailing. Premiering out of competition at the 73rd Venice Film Festival, writer/director Jee-woon Kim’s return to Korean-language cinema after a brief stint in Hollywood with the Schwarzenegger-starrer The Last Stand...

Director Kitty Green delivers Casting JonBenet, an unusual but hypnotic documentary that interviews actors cast as players in the Ramsey cold case. The first voice we hear in Kitty Green’s stylish,...

There's not much left to say about the 1996 murder of JonBenét Ramsey – but that hasn't stopped people from talking about it. Though the brutal, unsolved murder of the six-year-old pageant queen has been a cultural fixation for more than 20 years, the anniversary last December saw a surge of books, movies, and TV series rehashing theories about who was behind one ofthe most disturbing crimes of the 1990s.

While most of last year's Ramsey-centric media offerings seemed like little more than hot takes looking for new ways to capitalize on the tragedy,...

Welcome back to the Weekend Warrior, your weekly look at the new movies hitting theaters this weekend, as well as other cool events and things to check out.

Even Emma Watson and Tom Hanks May Not Be Enough to Make a Mark As April Ends

The last weekend of April, and the “slower” spring movie season is ending this weekend, leading directly into the start of the lucrative summer box office next week. As has been the case in past years, the last couple weekends in April see a couple movies hoping to bring in any amount of money before the first big summer blockbuster, and other movies that will steal away their theaters. Last weekend was pretty sad, but hopefully a few of this weekend’s movies will fare better.

The movie that stands the best chance at finding an audience this weekend is the tech industry thriller The Circle...

Elisabeth Moss in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’

Two exciting new limited series are making rather unconventional debuts this week, with The Handmaid’s Tale premiering on Hulu, which hasn’t had such a big event program like this before, and Genius giving National Geographic its first scripted show. We’re also saying goodbye to Bates Motel, welcome back to Silicon Valley, and hello in a new form to Dear White People. Plus there are a couple new places to have a laugh at the president.

To help you keep track of the most important programs over the next seven days, here’s our guide to everything worth watching, whether it’s on broadcast, cable, or streaming for April 23–29:

SUNDAYSilicon Valley (HBO, 10pm)

The boys of Pied Piper return, but they’re no longer a united force. The fourth season promises internal strife, as Richard (Thomas Middleditch) appears to quit his own company, as...

You could call it the “Netflix effect.” With the rise of the global VOD giant and its increasingly voracious appetite for nonfiction films, the documentary industry is anticipating a busy spring season at the Tribeca Film Festival and Hot Docs, North America’s largest documentary festival and marketplace.

But it’s not just Netflix, say industry insiders. The number of active buyers for documentary films suggests there’s an enthusiasm for independent nonfiction cinema that goes beyond the VOD giant.

On the eve of Tribeca, three high-profile documentaries have already found buyers: National Geographic acquired the coal-mining expose “From the Ashes,” and Gravitas Ventures bought theatrical and streaming rights to two films already partnering with CNN Films: “Elian,” the story of Cuban child émigré Elian Gonzalez, and Impact Partners’ “The Reagan Show,” a freshly relevant archival-driven doc about the staging of the former President.

Read More: Netflix’s Big New...

Keep up with the always-hopping film festival world with our weekly Film Festival Roundup column. Check out last week’s Roundup right here.

Lineup Announcements

– Montclair Film has announced the full program for the 6th annual Montclair Film Festival (Mff), taking place April 28 – May 7, 2017 in Montclair, NJ and featuring over 150 films, events, discussions, and parties, with over 150 filmmakers and industry guests attending. Highlights include “Casting JonBenet,” “Strong Island,” “Lady Macbeth,” “Menashe” and “Beach Rats.”

“This year, we have been fortunate to find filmmakers who are making work that gives depth and shape to the vital conversations of our time,” said Montclair Film Executive Director Tom Hall. “The festival is an opportunity for bringing audiences together with these incredible artists, so that, together, we can enjoy and engage with the images, ideas, and insights that are illuminated in these wonderful films.” Check out the full lineup right here.

– The Film Society...

You time is valuable, and so are both services for different reasons.War Machine (Netflix)

Although there may be a competition going on between Amazon and Netflix for subscribers, the truth is that both company’s streaming services are essential for anyone who watches a lot of movies and TV and who wants to be part of the pop culture conversations as they happen.

There’s no denying that Amazon Prime is worth the $99/year, which not only gives you access to many movies but also a good amount of music streaming and digital media access, plus faster shipping for when you actually want some sort of physical product (you can also just get video content for $8.99/month, which oddly means paying more for less).

And Netflix is still a must-have for both its exclusive and nonexclusive content, though depending on one’s usage could be best for sporadic membership rather than continued subscription — now at $120/year...

This month brings Amazonian exploration, shoot-’em-ups, boundary-pushing documentaries, kaiju battles, and more. Before the summer genuinely kicks off, and with it the Cannes Film Festival, there’s also a handful of films from last year’s outing. Check out our picks for what to see this month and chime in with what you’re most looking forward to.

Matinees to See: Win it All (4/7), Gifted (4/7), Mine (4/7), Their Finest (4/7), The Void (4/7), Aftermath (4/7), Salt and Fire (4/7), The Assignment (4/7), Queen of the Desert (4/7), The Student (4/14), By the Time it Gets Dark (4/14), Little Boxes (4/14), The Fate of the Furious (4/14), The Promise (4/21), Tramps (4/21), One Week and a Day (4/28), Obit (4/26), Buster’s Mal Heart (4/28), and Sleight (4/28)

15. The Circle (James Ponsoldt; April 28)

Synopsis: A woman lands a dream job at a powerful tech company called the Circle, only to uncover a nefarious agenda that will affect the lives of her friends, family and that of humanity.