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“Much Ado About Dying,” Simon Chamber’s documentary about elderly care that won the best directing award at IDFA in 2022, has been acquired by First Run Features for the U.S. and Canada.

The feature, produced by Soilsiú Films and Tiffin Films, will have its U.S. festival premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival ahead of a national theatrical release set to launch at New York’s Film Forum on March 15.

Chambers’ third feature-length documentary, “Much Ado About Dying” deals with the issue of caring for elderly and dying relatives. Producers describe the film as “poignant and moving, but also hilariously funny,” following Chambers as he get very close to his dying uncle, a retired gay actor who still wants to perform “King Lear” before it’s too late. The director’s previous films, “Every Good Marriage Begins With Tears” and “Cowboys in India,” both toured the festival...

Seymour Wishman, a longtime producer, writer, legal expert and president of First Run Features, died on Jan. 29 at a family home in Bridgewater, Conn., his daughter Samantha confirmed to Variety. He was 79.

Over the past 38 years, Wishman had served as president of First Run Features. During his time at the N.Y.-based independent film distribution company, Wishman brought Michael Apted’s “28 Up” (and later the entire “Up” series) to the United States and helped Ross McElwee finish and release “Sherman’s March” — as well as McElwee’s other films, including “Bright Leaves” and “Six O’Clock News.” Wishman also released Spike Lee’s “Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads” (the director’s first feature film and his graduate school thesis), Cheryl Dunye’s “The Watermelon Woman,” Jan Svankmajer’s “Alice” and many other independent pictures.

On the production side, Seymour co-directed and produced “Sex & Justice,” a documentary on...

In film history, there’s never been a project like the nine “Up” British documentaries, which have presented unique challenges for director Michael Apted and editor Kim Horton as they follow the lives of British individuals in seven-year intervals. Horton, who has edited the films since the 1984 “28 Up,” says, “It’s probably the greatest thing I’ve ever done. Michael refers to it as his life’s work, and I see it the same way.”

The first film, “Seven Up!,” was made in 1964 for British TV, and intended as a one-off to show class differences among a group of 7-year-olds. Seven years later, someone suggested a follow-up, and it proved so successful that Apted has been directing new editions every seven years.

BritBox makes its theatrical debut with “63 Up,” currently in theaters before its launch on the streaming service. The new edition follows the same format as the...

This year, responding to the pushed-up Oscar calendar and competitive bookings, distributors opened more fall movies earlier than usual. Usually a major awards player like “Roma,” “Darkest Hour,” or “The Favourite” opens on the well-attended Thanksgiving weekend.

That’s why the weekend saw no new breakout limited opener, but rather Netflix’s fall festival hit “The Two Popes,” starring Jonathan Pryce and Anthony Hopkins, which will hit streaming shortly. Its initial (estimated) grosses fell quite short.

Meantime, the latest edition of the long-running British documentary “63 Up” (BritBox) had a strong exclusive start.

The early release dates paid off though with a strong showing for expanding titles: four scored $1 million for the three days. Last year, the general release “Green Book” (in its initial expansion) and “Boy Erased” also reached that level.

Opening French Oscar entry “Les Miserables” as a one-week qualifier in New York and Los Angeles, Amazon did not report grosses.

NEW YORK -- Discovery Networks and CameraPlanet are co-producing a new series of documentaries that will be released in theaters before premiering on cable television. An all-star assemblage of documentary filmmakers has been recruited for Discovery Docs, including Barbara Kopple (Harlan County USA), Michael Apted (28 Up), Peter Gilbert (Hoop Dreams), Nanette Burstein (The Kid Stays in the Picture) and the duo of Chris Hegedus (Startup.com) and D.A. Pennebaker (The War Room). "I've got the dream team," Discovery Networks president Billy Campbell said during a conference call. "We're open to all great ideas and all great filmmakers." With indie studio CameraPlanet in charge of theatrical release, each installment of Docs will bow in at least five cities on the art house circuit as early as next year. About six months after a documentary debuts, it will migrate to one of Discovery's cable channels -- an unprecedented windowing schedule that might also be supplemented by a DVD/home video line.