Barry
Bollywood Dance U Makes Some News
We’re excited to finally share a little more about Bollywood Dance U, the four-part docuseries from filmmaker Smriti Mundhra, with Hasan Minhaj now joining the project.
The series dives into the wildly competitive world of collegiate Bollywood fusion dance, following students as they balance school, family expectations and some seriously intense rehearsals on their way to a national championship.
September Club had a great time shaping the series in the edit, with Michael Vollmann, Johnathon Olsen and Leo Fleming serving as editors.
Read more about the project at Deadline.
Netflix Announces “SCTV: The Greatest Show You’ve Never Heard Of”
Just announced today in Variety — We are excited to be part of the editorial team behind “SCTV: The Greatest Show You’ve Never Heard Of.” The documentary premieres on October 30th on Netflix. Directed by Jason Hehir, the director of the Michael Jordan miniseries “The Last Dance,” it tells the story of one of the most influential sketch comedy series in TV history. “Second City Television” helped boost the careers of John Candy, Eugene Levy, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, Rick Moranis and more future comedy greats. “Through intimate interviews with surviving members of its legendary cast and an emotional reunion in Toronto, the film explores the creative partnership that transformed a small Canadian television production into a cultural phenomenon that launched some of comedy’s most celebrated icons,” according to the description. The film promises never-before-shared stories and rare archival material. EPs are Jimmy Kimmel, Scott Lonker and Hehir.
UECK Premiere at the Milwaukee Film Festival
“UECK” was a huge hit at the Milwaukee film festival, quickly selling out two shows – the fastest opening night film sellout the festival had ever seen in its 18-year history.
From the Milwaukee Journal’s coverage:
A look at the ‘Ueck’ premiere, documentary
As ticketholders waited in line outside for the doors to open, they were greeted by The Famous Racing Sausages.
When fans – many dressed in Brewers gear or colorful plaids – entered the theatre, they were met with odes to the beloved broadcaster, who to many, felt like an old friend.
They were offered a Miller Lite – a nice touch with Uecker being a commercial fixture for the brew.
“Ice cold beer! Everybody gets one free Miller Lite,” a man shouted as if he was a beer vendor at the ballpark.
From the stage under the screen, an organist – another nod to Ueck’s second home – entertained fans snagging seats and settling in.
During the organist’s “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” finale, fans cheered as the instrument and its player were lowered out of sight.
During an intro, filmmakers said many thank-you’s, including to the entire Uecker family, with members in attendance. After raising a glass, err, can to Uecker, it was showtime.
What did fans think of the ‘Ueck’ documentary?
“You hear about these things that he’s done with his life. But, to see it play out in the way that it did was pretty incredible,” Selena Serrano said, holding back tears.
Serrano and her friend, Bonnie Bluedorn – both Milwaukee born and raised – have gone to many baseball games together over the years.
Having seen the preview on Opening Day, Bluedorn knew she was going to cry. Though, the laughs outweighed the tears, she said.
“He’s the voice of our summers,” Bluedorn said. “I grew up with him. I still miss him.”
As a little boy, Jay Scott would listen to Uecker on his transistor radio.
“I always said that my childhood was still alive as long as Bob Uecker was doing the radio,” he said. “I guess my childhood lasted 64 years, so that’s pretty good.”
What especially struck him was the relationships Uecker shared with Yount and Yelich, one of the few who knew of his cancer diagnosis.
“The trust, the friendship, the depth of their relationships was pretty inspiring, and beautiful,” Scott said.
Scott’s wife, Carolyn, called the film “unbelievable” and a “beautiful legacy of Milwaukee.”
“This is just so good for Milwaukee and this film tonight kind of brings it all home,” she said.
Sisters Macie and Lexi Todd thought it was really cool to see Uecker’s career story, all the hats he wore, and all he did for the community.
“I also didn’t realize how funny he was,” Lexi said.
“At all,” Macie added. “He has so many one-liners, it was amazing.”
UECK Sneak Preview on Opening Day
Fans at American Family Field for Opening Day were treated to a 20-minute preview of “Ueck,” a new documentary about the late, longtime Brewers radio announcer Bob Uecker.
The documentary will debut at the Milwaukee Film Festival in April and will have a wide release this summer.
Local filmmakers Steve Farr and Michael Vollman spent the last years of Uecker’s life creating the film. It covers everything from his early days bouncing around the minor leagues to his entertainment career and his time behind the microphone in the radio booth.
GALLAGHER at Cinepolis
We did a screening of GALLAGHER in Los Angeles at Cinepolis Film Festival at Hollywood Park.
Gallagher’s daughter, Aimee, was there, as well as various celebrity guests of Producer Daniel Kellison. Daniel rustled up some reviews of the movie afterwards from some friends who attended, and some friends who watched via screeners. A sampling:
“It’s a fascinating watch, a sympathetic portrait of an aggressively unsympathetic man.” – PATTON OSWALT
“Finally all my thousands of questions about Gallagher have been answered. This kind of movie is candy to me.” – JUDD APATOW
“For those of us who knew him, the expectation that a documentary about Gallagher could be more peculiar than the Gallagher we experienced would seem unattainable. But that turns out to be wrong.” – DAVID LETTERMAN
“I had no idea he was anything more than the watermelon smasher. Great doc!” – NATASHA LEGGERO
“Not just a great comedy documentary, but one of the best documentaries I have ever seen.” – BOBCAT GOLDTHWAIT
HWY 99 Telluride Premiere
Highway 99: A Double Album officially made its world premiere at Telluride on at the historic Sheridan Opera House.
Hwy 99 is a sweeping, three-hour biographical tribute to country music legend Merle Haggard. It tracks his journey from his troubled youth and incarceration in Oildale, California, to the height of his music career.
Structurally, the documentary plays out like an illustrated double album, weaving Haggard’s life story through 26 of his greatest songs. It incorporates rare archival footage alongside new tribute performances by major artists like Norah Jones, Dolly Parton, Rosanne Cash, and Jason Isbell.
The premiere was part of a major milestone for Hawke at the festival. Alongside debuting his directorial work for Highway 99, he starred as Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart in Richard Linklater’s film Blue Moon, which also had its North American premiere at the same festival. Hawke was awarded the festival’s prestigious Silver Medallion tribute.
The screening itself was a three-hour, star studded party opening to rave reviews:
VARIETY: A heartfelt, trenchant and long-overdue screen immortalization. Hawke goes to the tender, conflicted heart of Merle Haggard in the rich documentary he’s deserved.
AWARDS RADAR: A tribute that you won’t be able to resist. Anyone willing to take this journey with Hawke will be rewarded, tapping into something that’s hard to describe.
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: A rousing and soulful pilgrimage. Not every documentarian’s first-person contributions enrich the proceedings, but here the quest hits all the right notes, and the gathering of voices feels like a place to begin rather than a mere summing-up.
SCREEN DAILY: Sprawling and emotional, Highway 99 is a layered tribute highlighted by a series of performers covering Haggard’s songs while discussing his impact as an authentic, irreplaceable musical figure.
THE WRAP: The interview subjects can be honest and even tough at times; there’s no whitewashing going on, but it should come as no surprise that most everybody is here to praise one of country’s greatest songwriters and singers. Revelations are sprinkled throughout these three hours, and so are hits… and Hawke is right when he says that they deserve a party.
Gallagher Documentary to Premiere at DOC NYC
With his witty wordplay and wacky props, Leo Gallagher became one of the biggest comedy acts of the 1980s. The comedian’s most famous bit: smashing a watermelon with a giant mallet to the messy delight of audiences. His signature act was a gift and a curse, shooting him to superstardom while breeding both dismissive detractors and imitators, including his own brother. As tastes change, the aging Gallagher seeks the respect he deserves as an innovator in the art of stand-up comedy. – Brandon Harrison
The first screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Josh Forbes, producer Jeremy Coon, producer and editor Barry Polterman, and Gallagher’s daughter, Aimee Correia, at DOCNYC
Make Peace or Die: Honor the Fallen acquired by PBS Independent Lens
Riddled with survivor’s guilt after his unit lost 17 men during “Operation Enduring Freedom” in Afghanistan, Marine veteran Anthony Marquez makes it his mission to reconnect with the Gold Star families of the fallen. By carving and hand-delivering a battlefield cross for each of the families affected by loss, Anthony finds the path to heal himself. Directed by Manny Marquez
Sci-Fi and True Crime Collide in Gripping Docuseries for ‘Out There: Crimes of the Paranormal’
True crime and the paranormal are colliding in Collider’s exclusive first look at the upcoming Hulu docuseries, “Out There: Crimes of the Paranormal,” edited in part by Matt Prekop. The eight-episode production will ring in the spooky season in a one-two-punch kind of way. While there are plenty of similar projects out there that spend their time diving into the two separate universes of true crime and the paranormal, “Out There” blends them together and will force viewers to question what’s really out there.
‘Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story’ Documentary Acquired by Abramorama
In an exclusive article published by Variety Abramorama has acquired worldwide theatrical distribution rights for “Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story,” the feature documentary about the seminal L.A. cult rock band.
Andrew Reich directed the doc covering brothers and founders Jeff and Steven McDonald and the band’s place in the Los Angeles music scene from the 1970s to now. Directed and produced by Reich and produced by Julian Cautherley, and edited by Erin Elders the film also features interviews with band members from Pearl Jam, The Go-Go’s, Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, The Bangles, Black Flag, Dinosaur Jr and more.
Bollywood Dance Competition Series ‘Legends’ Waltzes Onto Nat Geo
Nat Geo announced today that they are delving into the world of competitive Bollywood dance in their latest series, and we are doing the edit. Michael Vollmann is the lead editor for the project, which comes from Indian Matchmaking creator Smriti Mundhra and 100 Foot Wave producer Joe Lewis.
The six-part series follows on two key squads of Bollywood fusion dancers as they compete for the national title.
Every major university in the U.S. has a Bollywood fusion dance team — which mixes hip-hop, contemporary and pop with traditional Indian dance styles like bhangra, raas, kathak and bharatnatyam — but only the top 10 teams in the country convene each April to compete in the Legends National Championship.
We are excited to be collaborating with Nat Geo and Smiriti Mundhra (who we also worked with on The Romantics). Stay tuned!
‘Napoleon Dynamite’ flash mob at Sundance
The Deseret News reports that:
On Monday, a flash mob of dancers dressed as Napoleon Dynamite took over Main Street in Park City. In a video posted on Sundance Film Festival’s official X account, they wore shirts that read “Re-elect Pedro 2024” and busted out the hilarious moves from the famous dance scene in the 2004 film.
The flash mob’s performance came in preparation of the 20th anniversary of “Napoleon Dynamite” at Sundance.
20 years and the dance moves are still fresh 🕺
A flash mob of Napoleon Dynamites break out in dance on Main Street to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the #Sundance classic, NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, playing in our 40th Edition Celebration Screenings Section. pic.twitter.com/QqzxHkFKjK
— Sundance Film Festival (@sundancefest) January 23, 2024
20th anniversary of ‘Napoleon Dynamite’
“Napoleon Dynamite” hits its 20th anniversary this year. The film first premiered at the Sundance Film festival on Jan. 17, 2004, before its official release in June of that same year. Since then, it has grossed more than $46 million and become a cult classic, as reported by the Deseret News.
Wildcat Opens Rome Film Festival
This year’s Rome International Film Festival is kicking off with a screening of “Wildcat,” a new film about Georgia author Flannery O’Connor and her struggle to publish her first novel, “Wise Blood.”
There is a nice interview in Rough Draft Atlanta.
“I started thinking, the only reason not to is because I was scared to have this conversation with you today,” he said to Deadwyler.
ASWANG remembered
Thirty years ago this coming January, at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival, ASWANG premiered in the midnight film category of the Sundance Film Festival. This week, the Sundance Institute celebrated Halloween by publishing Sundance After Dark: 8 Fang-tastic Films About Vampires to Watch this Halloween
They describe ASWANG as:
Vampiric beings with a gruesome appetite for the unborn, known as the “aswang,” are the center of this gripping film. Rooted in the chilling Filipino folklore of shapeshifting, the drama follows Katrina, a young pregnant woman who gets entangled in a sketchy deal she’s made involving her unborn child and a wealthy family. But after arriving at their eerie Midwestern estate, she realizes they seek something much more horrific than she could have imagined.
WILDCAT Premieres at Telluride
Deadline announced yesterday the Wildcat premiere at the Telluride Film Festival, which was held this morning. The festival guide described the film as:
Maya Hawke stars in and co-produced this imaginative depiction of crucially formative moments in the life of Flannery O’Connor, one of 20th century America’s most celebrated novelists and short-story writers. Writer- director Ethan Hawke and co-screenwriter Shelby Gaines entertainingly dramatize scenes from O’Connor’s admired stories—The Life You Save May Be Your Own, Revelation, Good Country People and Everything That Rises Must Converge—placing them in the poignant context of O’Connor’s intense religious concerns, and her struggle with the dire illness that threatened to overwhelm her. Ms. Hawke triumphantly embodies the artist’s unmatched combination of bitter humor, incisive intelligence and spiritual vulnerability. Touching support is provided by Philip Ettinger as O’Connor’s distant but admiring friend, the poet Robert ‘Cal’ Lowell, and by Laura Linney as Flannery’s mother Regina, who barely comprehended her daughter’s genius but was heroically dedicated to keeping her alive. –LG (U.S., 2023, 105m) In person: Ethan Hawke
“Meltdown: Three Mile Island” Nominated for an Emmy
NOMINEES ANNOUNCED FOR THE 44TH ANNUAL NEWS & DOCUMENTARY EMMY® AWARDS
NEW YORK (July 27, 2023) – Nominations for the 44th Annual News and Documentary Emmy® Awards were announced today by The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS). MELTDOWN: THREE MILE ISLAND, edited by Matt Prekop at September Club, was nominated as OUTSTANDING HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY.
The awards will be presented in two individual ceremonies:
News Categories – Wednesday, September 27th, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. EDT
Documentary Categories – Thursday, September 28th, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. EDT
The News & Documentary Emmy Awards will be presented live at the Palladium Times Square in New York City, and will be streamed live on NATAS’ dedicated viewing platform powered by Vimeo, available on the web at watch.theemmys.tv and via The Emmys® apps for iOS, tvOS, Android, FireTV, and Roku (full list at apps.theemmys.tv).
“The News & Documentary Emmy® Awards honor the work of dedicated professionals working at the highest level of the broadcast journalism and documentary filmmaking professions,” said Adam Sharp, President and CEO, NATAS. “They pay tribute to the journalists who bring us up-to-the-minute reporting on the critical stories of our time, and the documentary storytellers who explore important social, cultural, and political issues in great depth. NATAS is proud to celebrate the work of this year’s nominees.”
The 44th Annual News & Documentary Emmy® Awards honor programming content from more than 2300 submissions that originally premiered in calendar-year 2022, judged by a pool of over 1000 peer professionals from across the television and streaming/digital media News & Documentary industry.
Outstanding Historical Documentary
- CNN Original Series – Watergate: Blueprint for a Scandal
- PBS FRONTLINE, Retro Report – American Reckoning
- HBO Max – Hostages
- Netflix – Meltdown: Three Mile Island
- PBS – Waterman – Duke: Ambassador of Aloha
WILDCAT TO DEBUT at TIFF
Ethan Hawke’s latest directorial effort, WILDCAT, will have a TIFF international premiere.
September Club co-founder Barry Poltermann has been editing the drama for Hawke, continuing his collaboration which began with the 6-part Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward doc-series THE LAST MOVIE STARS. The film stars Maya Hawke as the celebrated author Flannery O’Connor and was shot in Kentucky. It will premiere in TIFF (September 7-17). The cast includes Laura Linney and Philip Ettinger.
Hawke’s previous outings as director include Blaze, The Hottest State, and Chelsea Walls.
First day shooting with Bob UECKER
Our first interview for UECK took us to Arizona, where Bob Uecker graciously welcomed us into his home and gave us hours of stories, memories, and laughs. What started as an interview quickly felt like an afternoon spent with an old friend.
In these photos, cinematographer Joe Picciolo is setting up the lights before we rolled. One of the funniest, most candid interviews we’ve ever filmed.
A Disturbance in the Force SXSW Premiere
The premiere of A DISTURBANCE IN THE FORCE at SXSW was a great time, and the reviews are in! 100% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
What “Disturbance” arguably does best… [is] the way it maps a transitional moment between old showbiz razzle-dazzle and New Hollywood blockbuster entertainment. — Rolling Stone
Maybe it really wasn’t all that terrible. Or maybe it was. Either way, the tone is more affectionate than disparaging in Jeremy Coons and Steve Kozak’s documentary. — Variety
When it isn’t poking fun at moments of iconic trash, it offers an insightful exploration of the production and context of the special. — The Hollywood Reporter
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos wants employees to watch ‘The Romantics’
Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos spoke about recently launched documentary THE ROMANTICS, which was edited by our own Michael Vollmann, and documents the advent of Yash Raj Films and Yash Chopra’s legacy in Indian cinema. Sarandos emphasized how it helped him understand the country, its culture, and Indian cinema.
Sarandos’s take on Indian culture, cinema Sarandos further said that he wanted all Netflix employees to watch the four-episode documentary to understand the country’s business and storytelling culture.
He added, “I learned more in that four hours than I have learned in the last 20 years, trying to figure out India for movies and television shows.”
I’ve been watching this on repeat for days. So incredibly proud of my entire team on #TheRomantics and a little giddy about the impact the show is having on cinemaniacs worldwide, including Ted Sarandos 🥰 pic.twitter.com/ey7Ye76X7i
— Smriti Mundhra (@SmritiMundhra) February 24, 2023
The Romantics premieres on Netflix to Acclaim and Huge Ratings
Shortly after DocNYC acclaimed THE ROMANTICS as their pick of the week, IndieWire called it “A stunning new docu-series — Essential and unprecendented”.
We’ve been reading reviews today from all around the world, as THE ROMANTICS quickly became the most watched program in the world.
Congratulations to editors Michael Vollmann and Michael Bourne on this amazing premiere.