In February 2022, a battle was brewing between two Sundance factions over the documentary “Jihad Rehab,” a film that earned critical raves during its run at the virtual festival a month earlier but was being targeted by a small group of vocal detractors. The two sides — festival programmers and non-programmers — converged to discuss the spiraling controversy over the Meg Smaker-helmed film, which depicts a handful of Guantanamo detainees who have been released from the U.S. prison into a 12-month Saudi de-radicalization program.
Sources describe a knockdown, drag-out showdown between programming director Kim Yutani, defending the film, and some members of the institute, who hadn’t watched “Jihad Rehab” but wanted to placate those outraged over its inclusion in the lineup. The film’s critics took aim at Smaker, namely for being a non-Arab director and potentially endangering the film’s subjects while reinforcing stereotypes of Muslims as terrorists. Their...
Sources describe a knockdown, drag-out showdown between programming director Kim Yutani, defending the film, and some members of the institute, who hadn’t watched “Jihad Rehab” but wanted to placate those outraged over its inclusion in the lineup. The film’s critics took aim at Smaker, namely for being a non-Arab director and potentially endangering the film’s subjects while reinforcing stereotypes of Muslims as terrorists. Their...
- 1/18/2023
- by Tatiana Siegel
- Variety Film + TV
Shuming He didn’t make it easy for himself.
His first feature film as a director is a deeply personal dramedy about a widowed housewife as she steps out of her comfort zone by making a solo trip to South Korea. It stars a veteran Singaporean television actress in her first leading role and features a coming-out subplot in a country that has only recently legalized gay sex.
Nonetheless, “Ajoomma,” whose title translates to “Auntie” (a general term of respect as opposed to a family-specific designation), has been chosen as Singapore’s contender for this year’s Best International Feature Film. The filmmaker sat down with TheWrap’s Steve Pond to discuss the ins and (coming) outs of his deeply personal directorial debut.
“Korean drama was a phenomenon around eight years ago, a very recent thing,” noted He. “When I was growing up I watched a lot of Hong Kong dramas and,...
His first feature film as a director is a deeply personal dramedy about a widowed housewife as she steps out of her comfort zone by making a solo trip to South Korea. It stars a veteran Singaporean television actress in her first leading role and features a coming-out subplot in a country that has only recently legalized gay sex.
Nonetheless, “Ajoomma,” whose title translates to “Auntie” (a general term of respect as opposed to a family-specific designation), has been chosen as Singapore’s contender for this year’s Best International Feature Film. The filmmaker sat down with TheWrap’s Steve Pond to discuss the ins and (coming) outs of his deeply personal directorial debut.
“Korean drama was a phenomenon around eight years ago, a very recent thing,” noted He. “When I was growing up I watched a lot of Hong Kong dramas and,...
- 12/10/2022
- by Scott Mendelson
- The Wrap
‘Live Action Shorts Showcase’ Directors on Breaking Harmful Hollywood Clichés Through Representation
Despite the wide range of topics shorts directors Verónica Echegui, Vanessa Beletic, Brianna Devons and actor Lamar Usher bring to the table through stories of dance, resilience and acting, the group shares a common goal of breaking tired Hollywood clichés by adding voices of authenticity to the existing narratives.
“Hollywood has done a great disservice to the Haitian community,” Beletic told TheWrap during the “Live Action Shorts Showcase” for the 2022-2023 Awards Season Screening Series. “Anytime Haiti comes up in any conversation, when it comes to cinema, we think of voodoo, which has been co opted and used and bastardized and turned into something that’s like, demonic and scary. I’m not an expert in that space, but I do feel a sense of responsibility to help destigmatize my people in any way that I can.”
While Beletic’s “Catching Spirits” focuses on the story of a young girl...
“Hollywood has done a great disservice to the Haitian community,” Beletic told TheWrap during the “Live Action Shorts Showcase” for the 2022-2023 Awards Season Screening Series. “Anytime Haiti comes up in any conversation, when it comes to cinema, we think of voodoo, which has been co opted and used and bastardized and turned into something that’s like, demonic and scary. I’m not an expert in that space, but I do feel a sense of responsibility to help destigmatize my people in any way that I can.”
While Beletic’s “Catching Spirits” focuses on the story of a young girl...
- 12/9/2022
- by Loree Seitz
- The Wrap
Director Meg Smaker’s feature-length debut, the intense documentary “The UnRedacted” (formerly known as “Jihad Rehab”), chronicles the plight of Guantanamo detainees undergoing a longterm program of de-radicalization in Saudi Arabia.
Speaking with “The Perfect Storm” author Sebastian Junger at a lively Awards Season Screening Series Q&a at New York City’s Village East Cinema on Sept. 6, Smaker explained that her desire to tell these detainees’ stories came after she experienced a shift in the attitudes of her fellow firefighters after 9/11.
“Before 9/11, my firehouse was a place of love and support and family, and the day after, it became a place of hatred and rage and bigotry,” says Smaker. “And nothing that I saw in mainstream media answered any of the questions generated from the day. The only way I could think about that was to go to Afghanistan on my own.”
Also Read:
‘Last Film Show’ Director Pan Nalin...
Speaking with “The Perfect Storm” author Sebastian Junger at a lively Awards Season Screening Series Q&a at New York City’s Village East Cinema on Sept. 6, Smaker explained that her desire to tell these detainees’ stories came after she experienced a shift in the attitudes of her fellow firefighters after 9/11.
“Before 9/11, my firehouse was a place of love and support and family, and the day after, it became a place of hatred and rage and bigotry,” says Smaker. “And nothing that I saw in mainstream media answered any of the questions generated from the day. The only way I could think about that was to go to Afghanistan on my own.”
Also Read:
‘Last Film Show’ Director Pan Nalin...
- 12/8/2022
- by Jason Clark
- The Wrap
Whatever you think of “The UnRedacted,” a documentary (formerly called “Jihad Rehab”) that got blacklisted after its Sundance premiere and has now been championed by publications from The New York Times to The Atlantic, you have to agree that its director, Meg Smaker, is a fighter.
And now she wants an Oscar nomination.
The film, a deep examination of five men who were jailed and tortured in Guantanamo after fighting for al-Qaeda and other extremist groups and then sent to Saudi Arabia for rehabilitation, prompted a head-spinning reaction at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
Smaker had spent years winning permission from Saudi Arabia to make the film, and more years winning the trust of the men in the film, four Yemenis and a Saudi. The documentary broke new ground in examining the reasons these men were drawn to jihad, and received strong reviews. “This is a movie for intelligent...
And now she wants an Oscar nomination.
The film, a deep examination of five men who were jailed and tortured in Guantanamo after fighting for al-Qaeda and other extremist groups and then sent to Saudi Arabia for rehabilitation, prompted a head-spinning reaction at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
Smaker had spent years winning permission from Saudi Arabia to make the film, and more years winning the trust of the men in the film, four Yemenis and a Saudi. The documentary broke new ground in examining the reasons these men were drawn to jihad, and received strong reviews. “This is a movie for intelligent...
- 11/23/2022
- by Sharon Waxman
- The Wrap
At the Venice Film Festival last month, Brendan Fraser stood up from his seat after a screening of “The Whale” — Darren Aronofsky’s new slice of life drama in which the 53-year-old actor plays a gay, grossly overweight teacher desperately trying to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter — and basked, teary-eyed, in a six-minute standing ovation.
For an actor whose status in the industry has been teetering perilously close to has-been territory, it was an extraordinary moment. Suddenly, the one-time “Mummy” star, who had all but disappeared from the big screen over the past decade (his most noteworthy recent role was a smallish part in 2017 as a prison guard in a handful of episodes of “The Affair”), had become a front runner in this year’s Best Actor race. Even critics, who’d never been especially effusive over Fraser before, were showering him with praise.
For a brief, fleeting moment,...
For an actor whose status in the industry has been teetering perilously close to has-been territory, it was an extraordinary moment. Suddenly, the one-time “Mummy” star, who had all but disappeared from the big screen over the past decade (his most noteworthy recent role was a smallish part in 2017 as a prison guard in a handful of episodes of “The Affair”), had become a front runner in this year’s Best Actor race. Even critics, who’d never been especially effusive over Fraser before, were showering him with praise.
For a brief, fleeting moment,...
- 10/7/2022
- by Benjamin Svetkey
- The Wrap
Eight months after her documentary “Jihad Rehab” was greeted with accusations of Islamophobia after its Sundance premiere from several Muslim and Arab filmmakers, Meg Smaker has told The New York Times that very few festivals have chosen to screen her film while she has struggled financially to promote it.
“I don’t have the money or influence to fight this out,” Smaker said. “I’m not sure I see a way out.”
“In my naïveté, I kept thinking people would get the anger out of their system and realize this
film was not what they said,” she added. “I’m trying to tell an authentic story that a lot of
Americans might not have heard.”
Also Read:
2 Sundance Staffers Resign in Response to Flap Over ‘Jihad Rehab’ Documentary
“Jihad Rehab” goes inside the Mohammed bin Nayef Counseling and Care Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where former members of Islamic extremist groups are rehabilitated.
“I don’t have the money or influence to fight this out,” Smaker said. “I’m not sure I see a way out.”
“In my naïveté, I kept thinking people would get the anger out of their system and realize this
film was not what they said,” she added. “I’m trying to tell an authentic story that a lot of
Americans might not have heard.”
Also Read:
2 Sundance Staffers Resign in Response to Flap Over ‘Jihad Rehab’ Documentary
“Jihad Rehab” goes inside the Mohammed bin Nayef Counseling and Care Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where former members of Islamic extremist groups are rehabilitated.
- 9/26/2022
- by Jeremy Fuster
- The Wrap
After weeks of turmoil that culminated in the resignations of two staff members, the Sundance Film Festival has spoken publicly about the controversy caused by the film “Jihad Rehab.” Meg Smaker’s documentary about former Guantanamo Bay prisoners being held in a Saudi Arabian rehab facility has attracted controversy from the moment it was selected for Sundance. Criticisms of the film ranged from accusations that it did little to help offensive stereotypes about Muslim men to more serious charges that the documentary placed its subjects in danger.
IndieWire’s Eric Kohn summarized the film community’s grievances with the movie, writing “among the many problems with director Meg Smaker’s look at a Saudi Arabian institution designed to help former Guantanamo Bay prisoners reintegrate into society: There’s the title, which reinforces the most negative connotations of the term ‘jihad’; the positioning of the subjects as ominous Muslim stereotypes; and...
IndieWire’s Eric Kohn summarized the film community’s grievances with the movie, writing “among the many problems with director Meg Smaker’s look at a Saudi Arabian institution designed to help former Guantanamo Bay prisoners reintegrate into society: There’s the title, which reinforces the most negative connotations of the term ‘jihad’; the positioning of the subjects as ominous Muslim stereotypes; and...
- 2/19/2022
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Two Sundance Institute employees have resigned in response to the hot-button documentary “Jihad Rehab” that played at last month’s Sundance Film Festival, a Sundance representative confirmed.
Brenda Coughlin, director of Impact, Engagement and Advocacy with the Sundance Institute, and Karim Ahmad, director of the Outreach & Inclusion Program, both resigned following the festival in the wake of criticism that “Jihad Rehab” is Islamophobic and promotes jingoism and other stereotypes. And some associated with the movie have sought to distance themselves from their involvement via social media.
As first reported by IndieWire, Coughlin and Ahmad were each tagged on an email sent to the festival’s directors in which a group of Muslim filmmakers voiced their concerns over the documentary. However, neither participated in a Zoom follow-up meeting that staffers had with the authors of the letter to address their concerns.
“We would like to extend our gratitude to both Brenda...
Brenda Coughlin, director of Impact, Engagement and Advocacy with the Sundance Institute, and Karim Ahmad, director of the Outreach & Inclusion Program, both resigned following the festival in the wake of criticism that “Jihad Rehab” is Islamophobic and promotes jingoism and other stereotypes. And some associated with the movie have sought to distance themselves from their involvement via social media.
As first reported by IndieWire, Coughlin and Ahmad were each tagged on an email sent to the festival’s directors in which a group of Muslim filmmakers voiced their concerns over the documentary. However, neither participated in a Zoom follow-up meeting that staffers had with the authors of the letter to address their concerns.
“We would like to extend our gratitude to both Brenda...
- 2/9/2022
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Two senior staffers at the Sundance Institute have resigned from their positions in response to the decision to program the documentary “Jihad Rehab,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last month. Brenda Coughlin, director of Impact and Strategy, and Karim Ahmad, director of the Outreach & Inclusion Program, tendered their resignations last month. Both will continue to work at the Institute through February.
As IndieWire previously reported, in January a group of Muslim American filmmakers submitted a letter to Sundance voicing their concerns about the movie, which was part of the U.S. Documentary Competition. Coughlin and Ahmad were among the Sundance staffers copied on the email, along with festival director Tabitha Jackson and director of programming Kim Yutani, but neither Coughlin nor Ahmad participated in a follow-up meeting with the letter’s authors over Zoom.
In addition to taking issue with the movie’s title, which misappropriates the term...
As IndieWire previously reported, in January a group of Muslim American filmmakers submitted a letter to Sundance voicing their concerns about the movie, which was part of the U.S. Documentary Competition. Coughlin and Ahmad were among the Sundance staffers copied on the email, along with festival director Tabitha Jackson and director of programming Kim Yutani, but neither Coughlin nor Ahmad participated in a follow-up meeting with the letter’s authors over Zoom.
In addition to taking issue with the movie’s title, which misappropriates the term...
- 2/9/2022
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
For those of us who spent the last two weeks of January in Sundance mode — my final count came just shy of 40 features, thank you very much — there’s no doubt that its program will resonate in the year ahead. The lineup launched exciting new genre filmmakers, gave jailed Russian dissident Alexei Navalny a voice with his own thrilling documentary, and led to some serious marketplace activity.
Even as the Sundance 2022 news cycle moves on, a sore spot remains with “Jihad Rehab.” Among the many problems with director Meg Smaker’s look at a Saudi Arabian institution designed to help former Guantanamo Bay prisoners reintegrate into society: There’s the title, which reinforces the most negative connotations of the term “jihad”; the positioning of the subjects as ominous Muslim stereotypes; and an ethically dubious approach to labeling men as “terrorists” who haven’t been accused of actual crimes.
As Documentary magazine reported earlier this week,...
Even as the Sundance 2022 news cycle moves on, a sore spot remains with “Jihad Rehab.” Among the many problems with director Meg Smaker’s look at a Saudi Arabian institution designed to help former Guantanamo Bay prisoners reintegrate into society: There’s the title, which reinforces the most negative connotations of the term “jihad”; the positioning of the subjects as ominous Muslim stereotypes; and an ethically dubious approach to labeling men as “terrorists” who haven’t been accused of actual crimes.
As Documentary magazine reported earlier this week,...
- 2/5/2022
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
For better or worse, one of the most talked about movies at Sundance is “Jihad Rehab.” The documentary from American filmmaker Meg Smaker follows three Yemeni men who were recently released from Guantanamo Bay following 15 years of unlawful detainment. Before rejoining society, they spend time at a “rehabilitation center” in Saudi Arabia. Smaker was granted exclusive access to the facility, and spent five years making a documentary that she hoped would to “pull back that curtain of Oz. And just see the human behind that curtain.”
However, some early responses to the film have argued that “Jihad Rehab” perpetuates harmful stereotypes about Muslim men and potentially places the subjects in danger.
Documentarian Julia Bacha described the film as “dangerous orientalist gaze and really poor filmmaking. I fear for the safety of protagonists who weren’t given the chance to see it.” Letta Tayler of Human Rights Watch wrote that “Smaker...
However, some early responses to the film have argued that “Jihad Rehab” perpetuates harmful stereotypes about Muslim men and potentially places the subjects in danger.
Documentarian Julia Bacha described the film as “dangerous orientalist gaze and really poor filmmaking. I fear for the safety of protagonists who weren’t given the chance to see it.” Letta Tayler of Human Rights Watch wrote that “Smaker...
- 1/29/2022
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
A Sundance documentarian is pushing back against accusations of Islamophobia leveled against her film, “Jihad Rehab,” which centers on former Islamic radicals who undergo rehabilitation in a Saudi center meant to help them move back into mainstream society.
“What we intended in the film was that these three guys’ personal journeys are going to challenge audiences’ stereotypes about who these men actually are,” filmmaker Meg Smaker told TheWrap in response to the criticism, largely expressed on social media. “Hopefully it takes away the simplistic stereotyping and gives their lives value that they haven’t seemed to have before in our national narrative.”
“Jihad Rehab” was widely praised by movie critics (including here at TheWrap), but has drawn fire on social media for the fact that the film calls the men “terrorists” and because Smaker herself is not Muslim.
One typical tweet by writer Jude Chehab of Turkish news website Trt World says: “When I,...
“What we intended in the film was that these three guys’ personal journeys are going to challenge audiences’ stereotypes about who these men actually are,” filmmaker Meg Smaker told TheWrap in response to the criticism, largely expressed on social media. “Hopefully it takes away the simplistic stereotyping and gives their lives value that they haven’t seemed to have before in our national narrative.”
“Jihad Rehab” was widely praised by movie critics (including here at TheWrap), but has drawn fire on social media for the fact that the film calls the men “terrorists” and because Smaker herself is not Muslim.
One typical tweet by writer Jude Chehab of Turkish news website Trt World says: “When I,...
- 1/29/2022
- by Joe McGovern
- The Wrap
Somewhere in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh there is a prison facility called the Mohammed bin Nayef Counseling and Care Center. If not for the large sign above the front entrance, it would be easy to confuse the place for a spa in Palm Springs: the walls are low, the colors are warm, and the small buildings inside the compound are separated by lush patches of grass that people traverse on golf carts. Inside there’s a sauna, a lane pool, and several longtime friends who greet each other with love. Not even those famous Norwegian jails match the calm and comfort found at Mohammed bin Nayef, a minimum-security institution where all of the residents have been accused of the same maximum-security offense as the inmates at Guantanamo Bay: jihad.
In fact, all of the men at the heart of Meg Smaker’s “Jihad Rehab” were inmates at Guantanamo...
In fact, all of the men at the heart of Meg Smaker’s “Jihad Rehab” were inmates at Guantanamo...
- 1/26/2022
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
“Are you a good person or a bad person?” This is the question that documentarian Meg Smaker poses to one of her subjects in a quietly reflective moment of “Jihad Rehab,” her thought-provoking film about Saudi Arabia’s controversial rehabilitation center for radicalized extremists. “I don’t know,” comes the response, from a man with a hefty résumé of terrorist activities. “That’s your job to figure out.”
But Smaker is on a different mission in her searing film, the very existence of which often feels like a miracle and an interrogative act of defiance. Not seeking clear-cut answers about what separates good from evil, “Jihad Rehab” is more interested in the why of things, asking questions and soberly, searchingly assembling its discoveries through unprecedented access. That doesn’t mean Smaker absolves anyone of the crimes they’ve committed — that’s not really her job. But as a former firefighter...
But Smaker is on a different mission in her searing film, the very existence of which often feels like a miracle and an interrogative act of defiance. Not seeking clear-cut answers about what separates good from evil, “Jihad Rehab” is more interested in the why of things, asking questions and soberly, searchingly assembling its discoveries through unprecedented access. That doesn’t mean Smaker absolves anyone of the crimes they’ve committed — that’s not really her job. But as a former firefighter...
- 1/24/2022
- by Tomris Laffly
- Variety Film + TV
‘Jihad Rehab’ Film Review: Firefighter-Turned-Filmmaker’s Doc Questions Our Beliefs About Terrorists
The mere idea of a center to help reform terrorists will already anger certain segments of the population, so a documentary about it should absolutely piss them off. For those open to finding out why some individuals turned to terrorism, “Jihad Rehab” will be riveting viewing.
To get to that point, however, requires an open mind, and for American viewers, in particular, to let go of what they think they know about Al Qaeda and other similar factions. Given the emotional toll of 9/11 that still hangs over this country, that’s a big ask. Knowing that filmmaker Meg Smaker, who wrote and directed “Jihad Rehab,” is a former firefighter herself might help ease doubts regarding her motivation.
It’s a story, however, that cannot be told without talking about the United States, particularly the Guantanamo Bay detention camp where the men interviewed were held — not for a few hours, a...
To get to that point, however, requires an open mind, and for American viewers, in particular, to let go of what they think they know about Al Qaeda and other similar factions. Given the emotional toll of 9/11 that still hangs over this country, that’s a big ask. Knowing that filmmaker Meg Smaker, who wrote and directed “Jihad Rehab,” is a former firefighter herself might help ease doubts regarding her motivation.
It’s a story, however, that cannot be told without talking about the United States, particularly the Guantanamo Bay detention camp where the men interviewed were held — not for a few hours, a...
- 1/23/2022
- by Ronda Racha Penrice
- The Wrap
“Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer; nothing is more difficult than to understand him.” — Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Before 9/11, six-foot firefighter Meg Smaker was happily following in her fire captain father’s footsteps. After 9/11, her world turned over. She watched her South Bay Area firehouse transform overnight “from this place of love and support and family to a place of fear and hatred,” she said in a Zoom interview. “It was unrecognizable to me. And I was young. So at that age it shook me to my core.”
And the simple good vs. evil tropes in the popular media didn’t satisfy her drive to understand what happened that day. Six months after 9/11, as Allied forces were launching bombing raids and ground operations in Afghanistan, the 20-year-old flew into the country and stayed with a family in the remote Northern province of Balkh. “I was immediately humbled by my own ignorance of the world,...
Before 9/11, six-foot firefighter Meg Smaker was happily following in her fire captain father’s footsteps. After 9/11, her world turned over. She watched her South Bay Area firehouse transform overnight “from this place of love and support and family to a place of fear and hatred,” she said in a Zoom interview. “It was unrecognizable to me. And I was young. So at that age it shook me to my core.”
And the simple good vs. evil tropes in the popular media didn’t satisfy her drive to understand what happened that day. Six months after 9/11, as Allied forces were launching bombing raids and ground operations in Afghanistan, the 20-year-old flew into the country and stayed with a family in the remote Northern province of Balkh. “I was immediately humbled by my own ignorance of the world,...
- 1/22/2022
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Earlier, Sundance announced that its 2022 edition will be hybrid. Most titles will be available online while their in-person festivities start up again in Park City. Their main slate has just gone live as well. Though the festival has a tendency to update their lineup as the festivities grow closer, their competition categories have at least been set in stone.
Naturally, we compiled all of the Asian and Asian diaspora-directed ones we could find so far. Like last year, most Asian titles tend to be in the documentaries. In the World Cinema Documentary Competition, at least 4 entries span from different corners of the continent: India (“All That Breathes”), Myanmar (“Midwives”), Lebanon (“Sirens”), and Israel (“Tantura”). 4 entries revolving around or by Asian diaspora filmmakers make their mark in the US Documentary Competition as well. “Free Chol Soo Lee”, “Jihad Rehab”, “Tiktok.Boom” and “The Exiles” cover fex-Al-Queda extremists, Tiananmen Square exiles, a wrongly-convicted Korean immigrant,...
Naturally, we compiled all of the Asian and Asian diaspora-directed ones we could find so far. Like last year, most Asian titles tend to be in the documentaries. In the World Cinema Documentary Competition, at least 4 entries span from different corners of the continent: India (“All That Breathes”), Myanmar (“Midwives”), Lebanon (“Sirens”), and Israel (“Tantura”). 4 entries revolving around or by Asian diaspora filmmakers make their mark in the US Documentary Competition as well. “Free Chol Soo Lee”, “Jihad Rehab”, “Tiktok.Boom” and “The Exiles” cover fex-Al-Queda extremists, Tiananmen Square exiles, a wrongly-convicted Korean immigrant,...
- 12/16/2021
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
More than half of 82-strong feature roster directed by filmmakers who identify as women.
The hybrid 2022 Sundance Film Festival has announced a roster of 82 features that include world premieres for Sophie Hyde’s comedy drama Good Luck To You, Leo Grande, Michel Hazanavicius’s zombie comedy Final Cut, and Lena Dunham’s drama Sharp Stick as well as new work from John Boyega, Noomi Rapace and Julianne Moore.
Features, New Frontiers selections and shorts (the latter will be announced on Friday) will screen from January 20-30 2022 in person in the Utah hubs of Park City and Salt Lake City as...
The hybrid 2022 Sundance Film Festival has announced a roster of 82 features that include world premieres for Sophie Hyde’s comedy drama Good Luck To You, Leo Grande, Michel Hazanavicius’s zombie comedy Final Cut, and Lena Dunham’s drama Sharp Stick as well as new work from John Boyega, Noomi Rapace and Julianne Moore.
Features, New Frontiers selections and shorts (the latter will be announced on Friday) will screen from January 20-30 2022 in person in the Utah hubs of Park City and Salt Lake City as...
- 12/9/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The Scene at ShortList 2016: TheWrap’s 5th Annual Short Film Festival (Photos) TheWrap’s Sharon Waxman and Steve Pond with the finalists at the 5th Annual ShortList Film Festival. “Glove” directors Alexa Lim Haas and Bernardo Britto at the the fifth annual ShortList Film Festival. “The Send-Off” directors Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan at the fifth annual ShortList Film Festival. “Slingshot” director David Hansen at the fifth annual ShortList Film Festival. “Thunder Road” director Jim Cummings on stage at the fith annual ShortList Film Festival. “Maman(s)” director Maïmouna Doucouré on stage at the fifth annual ShortList Film Festival.
- 8/25/2016
- by Reid Nakamura
- The Wrap
Meg Smaker went to Cuba to train in a boxing gym. She came back with a movie. But it wasn’t easy. “Boxeadora,” one of the finalists in TheWrap’s ShortList Film Festival, is an intimate documentary about a woman who wanted to become the first female boxer to compete for Cuba in the Olympics, only to run into roadblocks thrown in her way by a society that speaks of equality but doesn’t want women in the ring. Also Read: ShortList Film Festival 2016 Chooses 12 Finalists, Opens for Voting And Smaker faced plenty of her own roadblocks making a 15-minute doc that ended up.
- 8/11/2016
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
On Thursday evening (Sept 17) at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored 15 student winners from colleges and universities around the world at the 42nd Student Academy Awards ceremony.
The Gold, Silver and Bronze Medal awards were announced and presented by actors Michelle Rodriguez and Jason Mitchell, Oscar-winning director John Lasseter, and the Oscar-winning team behind the animated feature “Big Hero 6,” Roy Conli, Don Hall and Chris Williams.
The 2015 Student Academy Award winners are:
Alternative
Gold: “Chiaroscuro,” Daniel Drummond, Chapman University, California
Silver: “Zoe,” ChiHyun Lee, The School of Visual Arts, New York
Animation
Gold: “Soar,” Alyce Tzue, Academy of Art University, San Francisco
Silver: “An Object at Rest,” Seth Boyden, California Institute of the Arts
Bronze: “Taking the Plunge,” Nicholas Manfredi and Elizabeth Ku-Herrero, The School of
Visual Arts
Documentary
Gold: “Looking at the Stars,” Alexandre Peralta, University of Southern...
The Gold, Silver and Bronze Medal awards were announced and presented by actors Michelle Rodriguez and Jason Mitchell, Oscar-winning director John Lasseter, and the Oscar-winning team behind the animated feature “Big Hero 6,” Roy Conli, Don Hall and Chris Williams.
The 2015 Student Academy Award winners are:
Alternative
Gold: “Chiaroscuro,” Daniel Drummond, Chapman University, California
Silver: “Zoe,” ChiHyun Lee, The School of Visual Arts, New York
Animation
Gold: “Soar,” Alyce Tzue, Academy of Art University, San Francisco
Silver: “An Object at Rest,” Seth Boyden, California Institute of the Arts
Bronze: “Taking the Plunge,” Nicholas Manfredi and Elizabeth Ku-Herrero, The School of
Visual Arts
Documentary
Gold: “Looking at the Stars,” Alexandre Peralta, University of Southern...
- 9/18/2015
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
41st Student Academy Awards/©A.M.P.A.S.
The Academy has voted fifteen students as winners of the 42nd Student Academy Awards competition. The Academy received a record number of entries this year — 1,686 films from 282 domestic and 93 international colleges and universities — which were voted upon by a record number of Academy members.
Past Student Academy Award winners have gone on to receive 47 Oscar nominations and have won or shared eight awards. Previous winners include Pete Docter, John Lasseter, Spike Lee, Trey Parker and Robert Zemeckis.
The winners are (listed alphabetically by film title):
Alternative
“Chiaroscuro,” Daniel Drummond, Chapman University, California
“Zoe,” ChiHyun Lee, The School of Visual Arts, New York
Animation
“An Object at Rest,” Seth Boyden, California Institute of the Arts
“Soar,” Alyce Tzue, Academy of Art University, San Francisco
“Taking the Plunge,” Nicholas Manfredi and Elizabeth Ku-Herrero, The School of Visual Arts
Documentary
“Boxeadora,” Meg Smaker,...
The Academy has voted fifteen students as winners of the 42nd Student Academy Awards competition. The Academy received a record number of entries this year — 1,686 films from 282 domestic and 93 international colleges and universities — which were voted upon by a record number of Academy members.
Past Student Academy Award winners have gone on to receive 47 Oscar nominations and have won or shared eight awards. Previous winners include Pete Docter, John Lasseter, Spike Lee, Trey Parker and Robert Zemeckis.
The winners are (listed alphabetically by film title):
Alternative
“Chiaroscuro,” Daniel Drummond, Chapman University, California
“Zoe,” ChiHyun Lee, The School of Visual Arts, New York
Animation
“An Object at Rest,” Seth Boyden, California Institute of the Arts
“Soar,” Alyce Tzue, Academy of Art University, San Francisco
“Taking the Plunge,” Nicholas Manfredi and Elizabeth Ku-Herrero, The School of Visual Arts
Documentary
“Boxeadora,” Meg Smaker,...
- 8/26/2015
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
This year, the Academy received a record number of entries — 1,686 films from 282 domestic and 93 international colleges and universities — which were voted upon by a record number of Academy members. Past winners of this honor include Pete Docter, John Lasseter, Spike Lee, Trey Parker and Robert Zemeckis. The winners are (listed alphabetically by film title): Alternative “Chiaroscuro,” Daniel Drummond, Chapman University, California “Zoe,” ChiHyun Lee, The School of Visual Arts, New York Animation “An Object at Rest,” Seth Boyden, California Institute of the Arts “Soar,” Alyce Tzue, Academy of Art University, San Francisco “Taking the Plunge,” Nicholas Manfredi and Elizabeth Ku-Herrero, The School of Visual Arts Documentary “Boxeadora,” Meg Smaker, Stanford University “I Married My Family’s Killer,” Emily Kassie, Brown University “Looking at the Stars,” Alexandre Peralta, University of Southern California Narrative “Day One,” Henry Hughes,...
- 8/25/2015
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Thompson on Hollywood
The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has announced its 15 winners of the 42nd Student Academy Awards competition.
The Academy received a record number of entries this year — 1,686 films from 282 Us and 93 international colleges and universities — which were voted upon by a record number of Academy members.
The American Film Institute acheived a clean sweep in the narrative categoy.
Previous winners include Inside Out director Pete Docter, Disney animation chief John Lasseter, Spike Lee, South Park co-creator Trey Parker and Robert Zemeckis, whose The Walk will receive its world premiere at the New York Film Festival.
The winners listed alphabetically by film title are:
Alternative
Chiaroscuro – Daniel Drummond, Chapman University, California; and
Zoe – ChiHyun Lee, The School Of Visual Arts, New York.
Animation
An Object At Rest – Seth Boyden, California Institute Of The Arts;
Soar – Alyce Tzue, Academy of Art University, San Francisco; and
Taking the Plunge – Nicholas Manfredi and Elizabeth Ku-Herrero, The School...
The Academy received a record number of entries this year — 1,686 films from 282 Us and 93 international colleges and universities — which were voted upon by a record number of Academy members.
The American Film Institute acheived a clean sweep in the narrative categoy.
Previous winners include Inside Out director Pete Docter, Disney animation chief John Lasseter, Spike Lee, South Park co-creator Trey Parker and Robert Zemeckis, whose The Walk will receive its world premiere at the New York Film Festival.
The winners listed alphabetically by film title are:
Alternative
Chiaroscuro – Daniel Drummond, Chapman University, California; and
Zoe – ChiHyun Lee, The School Of Visual Arts, New York.
Animation
An Object At Rest – Seth Boyden, California Institute Of The Arts;
Soar – Alyce Tzue, Academy of Art University, San Francisco; and
Taking the Plunge – Nicholas Manfredi and Elizabeth Ku-Herrero, The School...
- 8/25/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
On the heels of last Wednesday’s announcement in The Hollywood Reporter’s annual film school rankings that Chapman University (where I am currently teaching) remains steady at #7, the Academy announced the finalists for the Student Academy Awards.
Chapman has three films that were selected.
Typically nominees in the Animation category are from the top animation schools such as Cal Arts and this year’s success suggests Chapman is joining those ranks.
2015 Student Academy Awards Finalists
Keep checking back to Oscars.org to find out the winners and get more information about Chapman’s awards ceremony on September 17, 2015.
Alternative
Daniel Drummond, “Chiaroscuro,” Chapman University
M. Louis Gordon, “Girl in the Chair,” Nyu Tisch School of the Arts
ChiHyun Lee, “Zoe,” School of Visual Arts
Balbinka Korzeniowska, “Awaken,” UCLA
David Karp, “Disconnected,” Cornell University
Animation
Jack Anderson, “Wire Cutters,” Chapman University
Lynn Tomlinson, “The Ballad of Holland Island House,” Towson University
Alyce Tzue, “Soar,” Academy of Art University
Nicholas Manfredi, Elizabeth Ku-Herrero, “Taking the Plunge,” The School of Visual Arts
Seth Boyden, “An Object At Rest,” California Institute of the Arts
Tom Teller, “Hum,” Chapman University
Jenna Hamzawi, “Ram's Horn,” Brigham Young University
Documentary
Emily Kassie, “I Married My Family's Killer,” Brown University
Alexandre Peralta, “Looking at the Stars,” University of Southern California
Dan Kerrigan, “Rise and Shine,” Villanova University
Elinore Wright, “In Transition: Tony Chennault,” Villanova University
Eddie Roqueta, “Silencing the Thunder,” Montana State University
Meg Smaker, “Boxeadora,” Stanford University
Matthew Spaull, “Spiritus,” Rochester Institute of Technology
Foreign
Arthur Lecouturier, “Do You Even Know...,” Iad (Belgium)
Dustin Loose, “The Last Will,” Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg (Germany)
Fernanda Valadez, “400 Bags,” Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (Mexico)
Nick Rowland, “Group B,” Nfts (United Kingdom)
Patrick Vollrath, “Everything Will Be Okay,” Filmacademy Vienna / Filmakademie Wien (Austria)
Ilker Çatak, “Fidelity,” Hamburg Media School (Germany)
Ahmed Abdullahi, “Francis,” Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts (Sweden)
Narrative
Henry Hughes, “Day One,” American Film Institute
Bennett Lasseter, ”Stealth,” American Film Institute Conservatory
Stefan Kubicki, “Against Night,” AFI Conservatory
Jeremy Cloe, “This Way Up,” American Film Institute
Jesse Gustafson, “Day 39,” Columbia University
Justin S. Lee, “Drone, “USC School of Cinematic Arts
Kiel Adrian Scott, “Samaria,” New York University...
Chapman has three films that were selected.
Typically nominees in the Animation category are from the top animation schools such as Cal Arts and this year’s success suggests Chapman is joining those ranks.
2015 Student Academy Awards Finalists
Keep checking back to Oscars.org to find out the winners and get more information about Chapman’s awards ceremony on September 17, 2015.
Alternative
Daniel Drummond, “Chiaroscuro,” Chapman University
M. Louis Gordon, “Girl in the Chair,” Nyu Tisch School of the Arts
ChiHyun Lee, “Zoe,” School of Visual Arts
Balbinka Korzeniowska, “Awaken,” UCLA
David Karp, “Disconnected,” Cornell University
Animation
Jack Anderson, “Wire Cutters,” Chapman University
Lynn Tomlinson, “The Ballad of Holland Island House,” Towson University
Alyce Tzue, “Soar,” Academy of Art University
Nicholas Manfredi, Elizabeth Ku-Herrero, “Taking the Plunge,” The School of Visual Arts
Seth Boyden, “An Object At Rest,” California Institute of the Arts
Tom Teller, “Hum,” Chapman University
Jenna Hamzawi, “Ram's Horn,” Brigham Young University
Documentary
Emily Kassie, “I Married My Family's Killer,” Brown University
Alexandre Peralta, “Looking at the Stars,” University of Southern California
Dan Kerrigan, “Rise and Shine,” Villanova University
Elinore Wright, “In Transition: Tony Chennault,” Villanova University
Eddie Roqueta, “Silencing the Thunder,” Montana State University
Meg Smaker, “Boxeadora,” Stanford University
Matthew Spaull, “Spiritus,” Rochester Institute of Technology
Foreign
Arthur Lecouturier, “Do You Even Know...,” Iad (Belgium)
Dustin Loose, “The Last Will,” Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg (Germany)
Fernanda Valadez, “400 Bags,” Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (Mexico)
Nick Rowland, “Group B,” Nfts (United Kingdom)
Patrick Vollrath, “Everything Will Be Okay,” Filmacademy Vienna / Filmakademie Wien (Austria)
Ilker Çatak, “Fidelity,” Hamburg Media School (Germany)
Ahmed Abdullahi, “Francis,” Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts (Sweden)
Narrative
Henry Hughes, “Day One,” American Film Institute
Bennett Lasseter, ”Stealth,” American Film Institute Conservatory
Stefan Kubicki, “Against Night,” AFI Conservatory
Jeremy Cloe, “This Way Up,” American Film Institute
Jesse Gustafson, “Day 39,” Columbia University
Justin S. Lee, “Drone, “USC School of Cinematic Arts
Kiel Adrian Scott, “Samaria,” New York University...
- 8/17/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Chicago – As the Chicago Critics Film Festival (Ccff) – a film festival as programmed by the members of the Chicago Film Critics Association – heads into its last four nights, the variety and depth of the films that are being screened continues to astound and entertain. It all takes place at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago, May 4 through 7, 2015.
HollywoodChicago.com contributors Nick Allen and Patrick McDonald have been sampling the best of the festival, and offer this preview of the final four nights of films. Each capsule is designated with Na (Nick Allen) or Pm (Patrick McDonald) – to indicate the author – or encapsulates the official synopsis from the festival.
’Quitters’ Screens on Monday, May 4th, at the Chicago Critics Film Festival
Photo credit: Chicago Critics Film Festival
The Ccff Closing Night films are the 2015 Sundance hits “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” and “The Overnight,” screening on Thursday, May 7th,...
HollywoodChicago.com contributors Nick Allen and Patrick McDonald have been sampling the best of the festival, and offer this preview of the final four nights of films. Each capsule is designated with Na (Nick Allen) or Pm (Patrick McDonald) – to indicate the author – or encapsulates the official synopsis from the festival.
’Quitters’ Screens on Monday, May 4th, at the Chicago Critics Film Festival
Photo credit: Chicago Critics Film Festival
The Ccff Closing Night films are the 2015 Sundance hits “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” and “The Overnight,” screening on Thursday, May 7th,...
- 5/4/2015
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
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