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New York-based The Film Sales Company has pounced on the worldwide rights to Colombian documentary feature “Igualada” by Juan Mejía Botero ahead of its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Documentary Competition sidebar.

Mejía Botero, whose most recent feature documentary “Death by a Thousand Cuts” won the Audience Award at Doc NYC, chronicles politician Francia Márquez’s groundbreaking journey from her start as a rural grassroot activist to her history-making campaign to become not only the first black but also the first female president of her native Colombia.

Given exclusive access, Mejía Botero follows Márquez as she “dares to challenge the status quo by launching a presidential campaign in Colombia, a nation beset by profound racial and socio-economic disparities,” per the synopsis.

Reclaiming the derogatory term “igualada” (used to belittle individuals asserting rights deemed beyond their position in society), Márquez propels a movement into the upper spheres of influence,...

Doc NYC, America’s largest documentary festival, on Tuesday announced its lineup in the short and feature categories, as well as for its Winner’s Circle category and its new section for 2023 titled Come As You Are.

All shortlisted films will have theatrical screenings at the festival. With Tuesday’s announcement, Doc NYC will present a total of 114 features and 129 short films in its 14th year, including 33 world premieres and 29 U.S. premieres.

The festival will run this year Nov. 8-16 at IFC Center, Sva Theatre and Village East Angelika in New York, and will run online through Nov. 26.

The festival’s new Come As You Are section features films about “people striving to find their place in the world, or in their communities,” according to the festival. The Doc NYC Short List for documentary features was launched in 2012. For 10 of the last 11 years, the festival has screened doc features...

Hulu remains one of the best value-for-money streamers out there in September, 2023, with a massive list of movie and TV additions coming to the service this month.

The big Hulu Original show this month is The Other Black Girl, and you’ll be able to binge the complete series when it arrives on September 13! The Other Black Girl is based on the New York Times bestselling novel of the same name, and focuses on Nella, who is an editorial assistant and the only Black girl at Wagner Books. When the company brings new girl Hazel aboard, Nella is delighted to finally see the staff hires at Wagner becoming more diverse, but everything is not as it seems, and things soon take a sinister turn. We will be watching!

Elsewhere on Hulu, the award-winning movie The Banshees of Inisherin lands on September 4, while the season two premieres of Welcome to Wrexham...

AMC Networks is bolstering the leadership team for its film group, which is comprised of IFC Films, Rlje Films, and Shudder. The company has added two new executives and promoted others, including one executive formerly with A24.

The hires come in the wake of an exodus of departures at IFC Films that began in March, including president Arianna Bocco after a 17-year run. The hires compose the team assembled under new film group head Scott Shooman, who took the job last month.

Nicole Weis, who previously worked at A24 as its VP of sales and distribution, is joining the team as VP of Distribution, managing the theatrical rollout of the film group’s output, and Judy Woloshen, who has been with AMC Networks, is moving over to the film group and is the VP of Public Relations. Weis will report to Scott Shooman, head of the film group, and Woloshen will promote to Olivia Dupuis,...

Located betwixt Oklahoma’s Cherokee Nation and kitsch Missouri family fun destination Branson, Northwest Arkansas’s Bentonville is one of the great cultural destinations of the SEC region. In addition to its thriving theaters, museums and local artist community, the city has announced itself as a burgeoning cinema hub, thanks to the emergence of the Bentonville Film Festival.

Founded in 2015 by activist and Oscar winner Geena Davis, in partnership with producer and businessman Trevor Drinkwater, the annual June festival is the centerpiece event for the year-round BFFoundation, providing a safe space and exhibition venue for emerging creators and visual storytellers hailing from underrepresented backgrounds—sounds familiar!

But don’t worry, we’re not being paid off by Big Arkanite to say nice things. Next week, Film Independent kicks off Festival Visions, a Film Independent Presents summer spotlight series featuring—online and for free—some of the best indie films programmed...

Arianna Bocco, IFC Films President, is out at the distributor, Deadline has confirmed.

The shocking news to the NYC indie world comes within days after the 17-year IFC vet was feted at the New York Women in Film & Television (Nywift)’s flagship fundraising event, the annual Muse Awards gala.

Bocco will be replaced in the interim by IFC Head of Acquisitions Scott Shooman. The Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group and CBS Films vet joined last year. The search for a new long-term replacement is underway. Talk about a revolving door at IFC.

We’re still sorting through what went down here. In the meantime, Bocco posted the following statement on social media, “I have big news to share! After much thought, I have stepped down from my post as President of IFC Films to pursue other opportunities. I’m so proud of the IFC Films team I’ve worked...

For the first time at a mainstream film festival opening night, three Asian American Pacific Islander documentaries come together with their directors.

Oscar-shortlisted documentaries Bad Axe and 38 at the Garden kickoff opening night, followed by the New York premiere of Unconditional (Prisca). The event starts at 5pm, March 1, 2023, on the first day of the Justice Film Festival at Dctv’s Cinema for Documentary Film in New York’s Chinatown.

“This opening night is a groundbreaking moment. I wish our festival was not the first,” says Justice Film Festival director and founder Andy Peterson. He went on to say, “These three directors are part of a trailblazing wave of filmmakers.”

“Breakthrough Voices” – a Fireside Panel Discussion

Following special screenings of their films, the directors take the stage for a no-holds-barred conversation about the tough questions dominating communities of color: why aren’t they seen as American stories? Are they scared to tell their own stories?...

The lineup of films premiering in the narrative, documentary, short film and episodic selections at the 2022 Bentonville Film Festival’s competition program have been released today, the Bentonville Film Foundation announced. The annual festival is set to run in-person from June 22-26 in Bentonville, Ark, with a virtual component having an extended run from June 22 to July 3.

Led by “Thelma and Louise” star and vocal feminist Geena Davis, the festival aims to amplify female, non-binary, LGBTQ, Bipoc and people with disabilities’ voices in entertainment. In collaboration with founding partner, Walmart, and presenting sponsor, Coca-Cola, this year’s programming includes a wide array of storytelling with more than 82 of the competition program from creators who identify as female or gender non-conforming. Additionally, 65 of the creators identify as Bipoc, Asian, or Pacific Islander and 62 identify as LGBTQ. The vast majority of onscreen leads — 90, to be exact — are women or gender non-conforming.

“We...

Utopia has picked up North American rights to “Freakscene: The Story of Dinosaur Jr.,” the feature docu that looks at the legacy of the influential 1990s band. A one-night only special theatrical release is set for May 31 ahead of a June 3 digital release.

A special New York premiere on May 28 will feature a Q&a and solo performance from the band’s J Mascis.

Directed by German filmmaker Philipp Reichenheim, who happens to be Mascis’ brother-in-law, the documentary features interviews with their contemporaries including Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine and The Pixies, charting their story from the mid-80s to their 30th anniversary reunion concert.

Emma Thompson Hires a Sex Worker in ‘Good Luck to You, Leo Grande’ Trailer

Emma Thompson plays Nancy Stokes, a widow, who attempts to have proper sex for the first time in her life and hires a sex worker in the new trailer for “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande.

The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (Laapff), presented annually by Visual Communications (Vc), Southern California’s leading showcase for new Asian Pacific American and Asian international cinema, announced today the program for the 38th edition of the festival. The festival returns May 5th to 13th in Los Angeles and will feature an exciting lineup of in-person programming, along with virtual programming for our audiences at home in Southern California and beyond.

As Visual Communications premiere annual event, Laapff continues to build connections between peoples and generations through the amplification of Asian and Pacific Islander film, video, and media.The festival celebrates Asian Pacific American filmmakers and Asian international artists with profound, important and entertaining films and content from the new voices of cinema while honoring the legends and leaders who keep this cultural movement going forward. Important themes of representation, authorship, responsibility and ethics are at the forefront of content creation.

IFC Films has taken worldwide rights (excluding Nordics) Bad Axe, a documentary directed by David Siev in his feature debut. In it, the filmmaker returns home to rural Michigan for an intimate look at his Asian-American family’s quest to keep their local restaurant and American dream alive amidst the pandemic and Trump-era political and racial tensions.

Bad Axe world premiered at the 2022 SXSW Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award and received Special Jury Recognition for Exceptional Intimacy in Storytelling in the Documentary Feature Competition. The festival jury noted, “Stories centered on the pursuit of the “American Dream” abound. Rarely do they portray the sacrifices and recurrent trials that the promise of a better life entails the way director David Siev accomplishes.”

IFC will release the film in theaters and on VOD in 2022.

“Many films speak about social justice and the American dream, but rarely are we granted...

IFC Films has acquired the worldwide rights (excluding Nordics) to “Bad Axe,” a documentary from director David Siev that won the Audience Award for a documentary at this year’s SXSW.

Siev’s debut feature documentary follows an Asian-American Michigan family as they fought racism and abuse in order to keep their local restaurant alive and open amid the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic and the backdrop of Trump-era political and racial tensions.

IFC Films is planning a release for “Bad Axe” later this year in both theaters and on VOD.

“Bad Axe” is produced by Jude Harris, Diane Quon, Katarina Vasquez and David Siev. The film is executive Produced by Jeff Tremaine (“Jackass Forever”), Shanna Zablow Newton, Marci Wiseman, Daniel J. Chalfen, Dawn Bonder, Michael Meinhold and Tim Chow.

In addition to picking up the Audience Award following its premiere at this year’s SXSW Film Festival, it...

IFC Films has acquired worldwide rights to the SXSW award-winning documentary “Bad Axe.” The deeply personal film is directed by David Siev, and follows the director as he returns home to rural Michigan. There, he captures his Asian-American family’s quest to keep their local restaurant alive, amidst the backdrop of pandemic and Trump-era political and racial tensions. It’s Siev’s feature debut.

IFC Films will release “Bad Axe” in theaters and on VOD in 2022.

Producers include Jude Harris, Diane Quon, Katarina Vasquez, and Siev. The film was executive produced by Jeff Tremaine, Shanna Zablow Newton, Marci Wiseman, Daniel J. Chalfen, Dawn Bonder, Michael Meinhold and Tim Chow.

“Bad Axe” had its world premiere at the 2022 SXSW Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award and received Special Jury Recognition for Exceptional Intimacy in Storytelling in the Documentary Feature Competition. The festival jury noted, “Stories centered on the pursuit of the ‘American Dream’ abound.

Bad Axe Review — Bad Axe (2022) Film Review from the 29th Annual South By Southwest Film Festival, a documentary directed by David Siev, featuring Chun Siev, Jaclyn Siev, Rachel Siev, Raquel Siev, Michael Meinhold, Austin Turmell, and Skyler Janssen. At one point somewhere in the middle of Bad Axe, the feature-length debut from David [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: Bad Axe: A Robust Slice-of-Life Documentary On the Strength of Family Ties [SXSW 2022]...

Pretty Problems, Bad Axe, Atlanta among other winners announced on Wednesday.

James Morosini’s I Love My Dad starring the writer-director alongside Patton Oswalt has won its second major prize at the in-person SXSW 2022, earning the Narrative Feature Competition audience award.

The film won the Narrative Feature Competition jury prize last week and tells of a man who catfishes his son in an effort to reconnect.

‘I Love My Dad’: SXSW Review

David Siev’s Bad Axe took the Documentary Feature Competition prize for its account of an Asian-American family fighting to survive in Trump’s America, while Kestrin Pantera...