News

Here’s your daily dose of an indie film, web series, TV pilot, what-have-you in progress, as presented by the creators themselves. At the end of the week, you’ll have the chance to vote for your favorite.

In the meantime: Is this a project you’d want to see? Tell us in the comments.

Raisin’ Cain: The History of Cain’s Ballroom

Logline: “Raisin’ Cain” will be a cinematic journey told through the music and artists that have made this Tulsa music venue legendary. It will celebrate its 92 years, exploring the ties between Cain’s, the Tulsa Sound, and a myriad of musical genres.

Elevator Pitch:

We hope to preserve the storied history of the legendary Honky-Tonk, Cain’s Ballroom. “The Home of Bob Wills” has hosted 3 generations of Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, Wanda Jackson to the Sex Pistols, The Police, U2 and many others. The film will tell...

A little bit of related Sundance music news rolling in this afternoon. Two well-known modern musicians—one an indie-rocker, the other a now-seminal hip-hop artist—are plying their trades to some new films making their debut in Utah later this January. First up is Death Cab For Cutie frontman and ex-Mr. Zooey Deschanel, Ben Gibbard. The singer/songwriter's first foray into solo film scoring was for the 2006 documentary "Kurt Cobain About A Son," and now he's dipping his toe in the waters once more for Lynn Shelton's "Laggies." Starring Keira Knightley, Sam Rockwell, Chloë Grace Moretz, Ellie Kemper, Jeff Garlin and Mark Webber, "Laggies" is a coming of age story about a 28-year-old woman (Knightley) stuck in permanent adolescence. It'll be interesting to see the arrested development genre coming from a female perspective and to hear what Gibbard does with it. Following that film we have the doc, "No No: A Dockumentary,...

Disappointed that the History mini-series "Hatfields & McCoys" is already over? Well, if you happen to be in Los Angeles this month, you might want to make your way down to the L.A. Film Festival, where the impressive-looking western "Dead Man's Burden" will be making its world premiere.

We're happy to unveil the pretty gorgeous trailer for the directorial debut of Jared Moshé. The film features a roster of rising talent including Barlow Jacobs (Jeff Nichols' "Shotgun Stories), Clare Bowen (ABC's upcoming "Nashville"), and David Call (Lena Dunham's "Tiny Furniture") to tell the post-Civil War tale about a brother and sister whose relationship is tested when a mining company expresses an interest in buying their land. If Moshé's name isn't familiar, you've likely seen something he's produced, as he's been behind the celebrated documentaries "Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel," "Kurt Cobain About A Son" and "Beautiful Losers.

The annual Cinema Eye Honors nominees will be announced on Wednesday in London at a big fall party given by Sheffield Doc/Fest. The doc awards, founded in 2008, have become influential in the all-important culling process for the Indie Spirits and Oscars. I chatted on Gmail from London with Cinema Eye co-founder, doc filmmaker and blogger Aj Schnack (Kurt Cobain About a Son). Our conversation is below, along with Cinema Eye's eligibility criteria and juror list. Update: The nominees are here. Aj Schnack: Tomorrow we announce the nominations. In 2009 and 2010, we had announced the nominees at Sheffield Doc fest. This year Sheffield moved to June, and was planning a big fall party in London, so why not announce the nominees there? Anne Thompson: ...

#46. Untitled Branson, Missouri project - Aj Schnack and David Wilson Aj Schnack describes the backdrop of his latest documentary as “like no other place on Earth. Homer Simpson has described it as “Vegas if Ned Flanders ran it.” If ready on time, co-directors Schnack and David Wilson (True/False Film Festival co-founder) may allow us to explore the wonders of Branson, Missouri - the untitled documentary film is the anti-thesis of the Ozarks that Debra Granik introduced at last year's fest. If this is closer in style to Schnack's Kurt Cobain About A Son, then I imagine this could fall into the or U.S Documentary Competition category. This is about a town of 7,000 tucked inside the Bible Belt, has over forty theaters and a hundred shows that draw annual crowds in the millions. * Producers: Aj Schnack, David Wilson, Nathan Truesdell(Ioncinema.com Preview Page)...

Rainbow Media's VOD service Sundance Select has acquired rights to the political documentary "Convention."

Described as a behind-the-scenes look at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, the film was directed by Aj Schnack ("Kurt Cobain About a Son") in collaboration with an ensemble of filmmakers.

"Convention" will debut May 12 on VOD simultaneously with its limited theatrical release in Los Angeles and Denver. The doc was featured last year at the Los Angeles Film Festival and AFI Silverdocs.

• We may not be too concerned with unearthing dinosaur bones or friends of the bible tombs as much as we are with old recordings from bands that made their mark. A couple of years back they were pulling out old Beatles recordings from the cobwebs, so it comes as no surprise that they are still troves of footage on a generation’s rock icon Kurt Cobain. Despite the number of documentaries that have come out on the subject, doc-distributor specialist Balcony Releasing are looking to release of A.J. Schnack's Kurt Cobain About A Son (first at the IFC Center in Manhattan on October 3rd followed by Los Angeles and other cities.). Aj Schnack’s doc is an intimate and moving meditation on the late musician and artist Kurt Cobain, based on more than 25 hours of previously unheard audiotaped interviews conducted with Cobain by noted music journalist Michael Azerrad

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The International Documentary Assn. is featuring 12 feature-length documentaries and five short nonfiction films in its 11th annual Theatrical Documentary Showcase, DocuWeek, set for Aug. 17-23 at the ArcLight Hollywood and the Landmark West Los Angeles. Features appearing are Chops, Curt Kobain About a Son, In the Shadow of the Moon, Here and Now, "Larry Flynt: The Right to be Left Alone," Nanking, A Promise to the Dead, The Price of Sugar, Protagonist, Taxi to the Dark Side, "War/Dance" and We Are Together. The featured shorts are Angel's Fire, Gene Boy, Steps to Eternity, Salim Baba and Sari's Mother.