Videos
featuring doc filmmakers and more
featuring doc filmmakers and more
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McQueen documentary: Exec. Producer Kinvara Balfour on genius of late fashion designerThe brilliance of fashion designer Alexander McQueen comes into focus in a documentary directed by Ian Bonhôte and co-directed and written by Peter Ettedgui.
Executive Producer Kinvara Balfour spoke with Nonfictionfilm.com about wearing the designer's clothing and what made McQueen unique. |
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Outfest Outrageousness: 'Preparing' for nude scenes on stageAt a Q&A for the documentary Every Act of Life, about playwright Terrence Wright, panelists Rita Moreno and Justin Kirk got into an exchange about how to 'ready' for getting naked on Broadway.
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Cristina Costantini and Darren Foster, directors of Science FairScience Fair won the inaugural Festival Favorite Award at Sundance, presented to the film that won the most votes for audience favorite. That's all the more impressive because it's a documentary, which sometimes do not draw the size of crowds at Sundance that see fictional films.
In this video Costantini and Foster talk about their film, the importance of science fairs, and Costantini reveals her own history of competing in the event. |
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Sundance 2018: Offerman, Clemons perform 'Hearts Beat Loud' title songTo open the 2018 Sundance Film Festival Awards ceremony, actors Nick Offerman and Kiersey Clemons performed the title song from the film Hearts Beat Loud, which played in the Premieres section. Keegan DeWitt and Jeremy Bullock wrote the song, and play rhythm guitar.
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Sundance 2018: Morgan NevilleOscar winner Morgan Neville returned to Sundance this year with a new documentary on Mr. Rogers, the cardigan-clad television mainstay who reassuringly told kids, "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood."
Won't You Be My Neighbor? is the title of the film, which finds Rogers pursued a much higher purpose than simply entertaining children. He was, Neville tells us, imparting important values. |
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Sundance 2018: Lauren GreenfieldThe award-winning director Lauren Greenfield has returned to the Sundance Film Festival to unveil her latest documentary, Generation Wealth. It's a disturbing portrait of American obsession with money, image and celebrity, and may inspire viewers to think about where real meaning can be found in their lives.
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Unrest's Jennifer Brea on her debut documentaryJennifer Brea was a 28-year-old Ph.D student at Harvard when she was struck by an illness that would redefine her life. She went from youthful vitality to bedridden, coping with the little-researched disease ME, often referred to as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
She documents her experience with ME and her attempt to connect with others around the world with the condition in her debut film Unrest. |
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Filmmaker Abigail Disney at 33rd IDA AwardsAs a member of the Disney family (her grandfather, Roy O. Disney, co-founded The Walt Disney Co.), Abigail Disney has inherited the kind of fortune that allows her to do as she pleases. Unlike many people of her class, she has chosen to advocate for political positions that benefit all, not just the wealthy few.
She co-founded the production company Fork Films, has directed and produced documentaries and funded the work of other filmmakers. For those efforts she received the IDA's Amicus Award December 10. She spoke with Nonfictionfilm.com on the IDA red carpet about the honor, her bold Twitter feed and her opposition to Republican tax reform bill. |
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Errol Morris on his Elsa Dorfman documentary The B-SideErrol Morris and his family have posed for pictures by Elsa Dorfman, his good friend and fellow resident of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Having been under her lens, Morris returns the favor in The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman's Portrait Photography, in which he celebrates an artist whose work has been under-appreciated.
Says Morris, "This is a really gifted artist and an incredible human being." |
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'Filmworker' Leon VitaliHis name may not be well known, but Leon Vitali played a vital role in the career of one of cinema's greatest artists, Stanley Kubrick.
He began with Kubrick as an actor -- starring as the simpering Lord Bullingdon in Barry Lyndon. Vitali went on to become the director's indispensable aide-de-camp, a role that encompassed an astonishing array of activities, from casting to color correction. Vitali finally gets his due in Filmworker, directed by Tony Zierra, which screened at AFI Fest in Hollywood. |
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The Fabulous Allan CarrAllan Carr only lived to 62, but he packed plenty into his six decades plus. He produced the movie version of Grease, played a key role promoting Saturday Night Fever, managed the careers of Mama Cass, Tony Curtis and Ann-Margret, and produced the Broadway musical La Cage Aux Folles.
Unfortunately for him, his failures were equally legendary, especially that abysmal Oscar telecast of 1989 -- the one Rob Lowe is still trying to forget. Director Jeffrey Schwarz explores the highs and lows of Carr's epic career in The Fabulous Allan Carr. |
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Matthew Heineman on City of GhostsMatthew Heineman followed up his Oscar-nominated film Cartel Land with another very hard-hitting documentary--City of Ghosts. It explores courageous citizen journalists in Raqqa, Syria who risked death to report on the atrocities committed by ISIS in that city.
Nonfictionfilm.com spoke with Heineman and the main character in his film, citizen journalist Aziz Al-Hamza. |
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Frank Oz on Muppet Guys TalkingFrank Oz has directed numerous feature films including Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and What About Bob? But he became a doc filmmaker for the first time with Muppet Guys Talking: Secrets Behind the Show the Whole World Watched. The project couldn't have been more personal, because it reunited Oz with his fellow Muppeteers who worked with Jim Henson to create some of entertainment's most beloved characters.
The idea to do the documentary came from Oz's wife, producer Victoria Labalme. It premiered at SXSW in 2017. We spoke on the red carpet in Austin, Texas. |
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The Untold Tales of Armistead MaupinJennifer Kroot's film The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin reveals how the famed writer went from a GOP stalwart as a young man to an out, proud gay icon today. It premiered at SXSW in 2017.
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Behind the Curtain with Todrick HallTodrick Hall returned in triumph to his native Texas for the 2017 SXSW film festival. He grew up in a small town in the Lone Star State but faced a lot of bullying there before he headed off to Broadway where he made it big.
His story is told in the documentary Behind the Curtain: Todrick Hall, directed by Katherine Fairfax Wright. |
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Werner Herzog goes deep into the pastWerner Herzog's intellectual curiosity compels him to investigate a diverse array of subjects, through both the fictional and documentary form. For Cave of Forgotten Dreams he took 3D cameras into the subterranean recesses of Chauvet, France to explore pristine cave paintings from the dawn of human culture. This piece, in which I asked Werner to speak directly to camera about his work, originally posted to CNN.com.
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Searching for Sugar ManFor me, the story of Searching for Sugar Man will always be one of triumph and tragedy. The film won the 2013 Academy Award for Best Documentary, and rescued the artist Rodriguez from an unjust obscurity. That was the triumph. The tragedy came in losing the charming and talented director Malik Bendjelloul, who took his life in May 2014. I loved speaking with him for this piece which originally aired on CNN. It focused on Malik's use of an iPhone to complete his touching film. The reporter is Nischelle Turner.
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The real Horse WhispererBuck Brannaman's ability to communicate with horses is a wonder to behold, a gift on fascinating display in the documentary Buck. If you haven't heard of him, he's the cowboy who inspired the book and movie The Horse Whisperer. How he came to develop his empathy for animals -- after a childhood of physical and emotional brutality -- is deeply inspiring. Buck gave us a demonstration of how he calms a high-strung horse for this piece that aired on CNN in 2011. Kareen Wynter is the reporter.
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Mysterious nun crashes Academy AwardsWe're used to seeing stars in formal attire on the Oscar red carpet. But a nun in full habit? It happened in 2013. Watch this piece to find out who she was and how she got to the Academy Awards.
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'Smashing' doc on paparazzo who shot Brando, Redford, Jackie ORoger Ebert called him a national treasure. Others called him something far less flattering -- various synonyms for jerk, pest, human irritant. Ron Galella, the original paparazzo who became famous for snapping the likes of Marlon Brando, Jackie Onassis, Robert Redford and other mega-celebrities, is the subject of the affectionate documentary Smash His Camera, from director Leon Gast. Galella flourished in the 60s and 70s, an era that seems almost quaint compared to the aggressive and hostile practices of today's paparazzi. This piece aired originally on CNN in 2010. The reporter is Brooke Anderson.
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