London-based doc specialist Journeyman Pictures has acquired world sales rights for “Can’t Feel Nothing,” the sophomore feature of U.S. filmmaker David Borenstein (“Dream Empire”), which had its world premiere at leading doc film festival Cph:dox in the F:act Award section dedicated to investigative journalism.
“Behind David’s entertaining approach to his subject lies an ambitious exploration of something that deeply affects every single one of us,” Emma Simpson, head of acquisitions and development at Journeyman, says.
Laced with dark humor and narrated by Borenstein, a self-confessed phone addict who produces tech films for networks around the world, the film takes us on a globe-trotting journey to meet some of those who are pulling the strings that leave the rest of us, as he describes it, “numb.”
“I’ve observed first-hand the insidious ways in which internet companies exploit human emotions,” he says. “These corporations have erected Kafkaesque architectures beneath the digital veneer,...
“Behind David’s entertaining approach to his subject lies an ambitious exploration of something that deeply affects every single one of us,” Emma Simpson, head of acquisitions and development at Journeyman, says.
Laced with dark humor and narrated by Borenstein, a self-confessed phone addict who produces tech films for networks around the world, the film takes us on a globe-trotting journey to meet some of those who are pulling the strings that leave the rest of us, as he describes it, “numb.”
“I’ve observed first-hand the insidious ways in which internet companies exploit human emotions,” he says. “These corporations have erected Kafkaesque architectures beneath the digital veneer,...
- 3/22/2024
- by Lise Pedersen
- Variety Film + TV
Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival (Cph:Dox) has unveiled the line-ups for its five competitive sections for its 2024 edition. All films in the main Dox:Award competition are world premieres for the second successive year.
Scroll down for the full list of competition titles
Titles in that section include Alessandra Celesia’s The Flats, a France-uk-Ireland-Belgium co-production about Belfast youngsters accessing their memories of the Troubles. Belfast-based Italian filmmaker Celesia has previously made documentaries including 2017’s Anatomy Of A Miracle, which played at Locarno.
The 12-strong Dox:Award competition also includes Manon Ouimet and Jacob Perlmutter’s UK title Two Strangers Trying Not To Kill Each Other,...
Scroll down for the full list of competition titles
Titles in that section include Alessandra Celesia’s The Flats, a France-uk-Ireland-Belgium co-production about Belfast youngsters accessing their memories of the Troubles. Belfast-based Italian filmmaker Celesia has previously made documentaries including 2017’s Anatomy Of A Miracle, which played at Locarno.
The 12-strong Dox:Award competition also includes Manon Ouimet and Jacob Perlmutter’s UK title Two Strangers Trying Not To Kill Each Other,...
- 2/15/2024
- ScreenDaily
Pitched at the Work-in-Progress industry section of international documentary film festival Visions du Réel, U.S. director David Borenstein’s sophomore feature “Can’t Feel Nothing” explores the connection between internet use and emotional disorders.
Borenstein’s debut feature doc “Dream Empire,” about the building boom in China’s ghost cities, won the top prize at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival in 2017.
The filmmaker has been making technology films for networks like the BBC, Al Jazeera and Vice for years, and said the time had come to make his own – a project focused on what he calls “the vast apparatus of systems and technologies that are trying to influence our emotions.”
“It’s an interesting job but sometimes it feels like I’m in some sort of Kafka book: I interview technologists and people who make apps, who create the infrastructure of the internet that we use. I can’t help...
Borenstein’s debut feature doc “Dream Empire,” about the building boom in China’s ghost cities, won the top prize at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival in 2017.
The filmmaker has been making technology films for networks like the BBC, Al Jazeera and Vice for years, and said the time had come to make his own – a project focused on what he calls “the vast apparatus of systems and technologies that are trying to influence our emotions.”
“It’s an interesting job but sometimes it feels like I’m in some sort of Kafka book: I interview technologists and people who make apps, who create the infrastructure of the internet that we use. I can’t help...
- 4/29/2023
- by Lise Pedersen
- Variety Film + TV
Edition runs April 23-27.
Swiss documentary festival Visions du Réel has unveiled the industry projects to be pitched and presented at its 2023 edition, taking place April 23-27.
This year’s selection includes Latvian filmmaker Laila Pakalnina whose new project Cat On My Mind will participate in VdR-Pitching. Pakalnina’s Ausma (2015) and In The Mirror (2020) played in competition at the Blak Nights Tallinn International Film festival while her shorts have screened at Berlin and Cannes.
Also participating in VdR-Pitching is Italy-us filmmaker Mo Scarpelli with her new project Faith about two young girls who live together in an abandoned classroom. Her...
Swiss documentary festival Visions du Réel has unveiled the industry projects to be pitched and presented at its 2023 edition, taking place April 23-27.
This year’s selection includes Latvian filmmaker Laila Pakalnina whose new project Cat On My Mind will participate in VdR-Pitching. Pakalnina’s Ausma (2015) and In The Mirror (2020) played in competition at the Blak Nights Tallinn International Film festival while her shorts have screened at Berlin and Cannes.
Also participating in VdR-Pitching is Italy-us filmmaker Mo Scarpelli with her new project Faith about two young girls who live together in an abandoned classroom. Her...
- 3/10/2023
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
Cph:dox also sets work-in-progress, Change co-production selections.
New feature documentaries from Honeyland director Ljubomir Stefanov and Ascension filmmaker Jessica Kingdon are among the 33 projects selected for Cph:Forum, the financing and co-production market of Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival.
Macedonian filmmaker Stefanov is presenting House of Earth, about a transgender sex worker who returns to her Roma community after 30 years on the run, only to be torn between her biological kin and her chosen queer family. The Macedonian-us co-production is produced by Maya E. Rudolph and Sarah D’hanens, and is looking for €405,000 funding to supplement its €45,000 in place from Louverture Films and private equity.
New feature documentaries from Honeyland director Ljubomir Stefanov and Ascension filmmaker Jessica Kingdon are among the 33 projects selected for Cph:Forum, the financing and co-production market of Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival.
Macedonian filmmaker Stefanov is presenting House of Earth, about a transgender sex worker who returns to her Roma community after 30 years on the run, only to be torn between her biological kin and her chosen queer family. The Macedonian-us co-production is produced by Maya E. Rudolph and Sarah D’hanens, and is looking for €405,000 funding to supplement its €45,000 in place from Louverture Films and private equity.
- 2/10/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Danish doc examines Chinese-inflated property boom.
Danish project Dream Empire won the top prize at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival, which wrapped yesterday (12 March).
Director David Borenstein’s film about the inflated economic and real estate boom in China won the Golden Alexander award and a 5,000 Euros prize.
Produced by House of Real, the film is sold by Gunpowder and Sky Distribution (Us).
The Special Jury award and 2000 Euros went to the Indian, German, Finnish co-production Machines by Rahul Jain.
The film examines a huge giant textile factory in India and the human cost of mass production in a globalised world.
Produced by the director’s Jan Pictures, Pallas Film and IV Films and sold by Autlook Film Sales (Germany), the film was also the recipient of the Fipresci award.
A Special Mention went to the Greek, Belgian. Austrian co-production Shingal, Where Are You where director Angelos Rallis told the story of Yezidi refugees fleeing the Isis...
Danish project Dream Empire won the top prize at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival, which wrapped yesterday (12 March).
Director David Borenstein’s film about the inflated economic and real estate boom in China won the Golden Alexander award and a 5,000 Euros prize.
Produced by House of Real, the film is sold by Gunpowder and Sky Distribution (Us).
The Special Jury award and 2000 Euros went to the Indian, German, Finnish co-production Machines by Rahul Jain.
The film examines a huge giant textile factory in India and the human cost of mass production in a globalised world.
Produced by the director’s Jan Pictures, Pallas Film and IV Films and sold by Autlook Film Sales (Germany), the film was also the recipient of the Fipresci award.
A Special Mention went to the Greek, Belgian. Austrian co-production Shingal, Where Are You where director Angelos Rallis told the story of Yezidi refugees fleeing the Isis...
- 3/13/2017
- by alexisgrivas@yahoo.com (Alexis Grivas)
- ScreenDaily
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