Barry
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.
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.
ACE EDDY AWARDS NOMINEES INCLUDE THE LAST MOVIE STARS
The American Cinema Editors (ACE) has nominated THE LAST MOVIE STARS for the 73rd annual ACE Eddie Awards. The winners will be announced during the ACE Eddie Awards on March 5 at UCLA’s Royce Hall.
BEST EDITED DOCUMENTARY (NON-THEATRICAL)
“The Andy Warhol Diaries: Collab: Andy & Basquiat”- Steve Ross
“George Carlin’s American Dream” – Joe Beshenkovsky, ACE
“The Last Movie Stars: Luck is an Art”- Barry Poltermann
“Luci and Desi” – Robert A. Martinez
“Pelosi in the House” – Geof Bartz, ACE
And the nominees for the 2023 #ACEEddieAwards are… pic.twitter.com/jkKKIK8zPY
— AmericanCinemaEditor (@ACEFilmEditors) February 1, 2023
“THE ROMANTICS” to premiere on Netflix for Valentine’s Day
Variety announced today that “THE ROMANTICS”, edited by September Club’s Michael Vollmann and Michael Bourne, will premiere on February 14th throughout the world. From Netflix:
Netflix will celebrate the cultural legacy of iconic Indian filmmaker Yash Chopra and his studio Yash Raj Films (YRF) with documentary series “The Romantics.”
The star-studded, four-part series will feature 35 leading voices of the Hindi-language film industry and dive into the history of Bollywood through the lens of the studio’s impact over the past 50 years in making Bollywood globally known.
The streamer will release the series globally on Feb. 14 (Valentine’s Day) as a tribute to the late Chopra, who is regarded as the father of romance in Indian cinema because of his romantic films including “Silsila,” “Lamhe,” “Kabhi Kabhie,” “Veer-Zaara,” “Dil To Pagal Hai,” “Chandni” and “Jab Tak Hai Jaan.”
Ethan Hawke begins filming WILDCAT
We are pleased to be editing the new Ethan Hawke feature, WILDCAT. Announced today in Variety:
Ethan Hawke has started production on “Wildcat,” a look at the life of Flannery O’Connor that stars Maya Hawke as the Southern writer. He’s assembled an ensemble of heavy hitters that also includes Oscar-nominee Laura Linney (“You Can Count on Me”), Philip Ettinger (“First Reformed”), Rafael Casal (“Blindspotting”), Steve Zahn (“White Lotus”), Cooper Hoffman (“Licorice Pizza”), Willa Fitzgerald (“Reacher”), Alessandro Nivola (“The Many Saints of Newark”) and Vincent D’Onofrio (“Law & Order: Criminal Intent”).
“THE LAST MOVIE STARS” Wins Best Reviewed Docu-Series from Rotten Tomatoes
With one dino-sized exception in Prehistoric Planet, the best docuseries we got in 2022 tended to center on larger-than-life celebrities, from comedians like George Carlin and Bill Cosby (for very different reasons) to artists like Andy Warhol and Kanye West. Not only that, but the one that rose to the top of the list, The Last Movie Stars, is a real-life love story of a sort, chronicling the romance and relationship of cinema icons Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. Isn’t that nice?
The order reflects Tomatometer scores (as of December 31, 2022) after adjustment from our ranking formula, which compensates for variation in the number of reviews when comparing movies or TV shows.
SXSW to premiere “A DISTURBANCE IN THE FORCE”
SXSW has announced the first wave of movie and television programming for its 2023 film festival, including its narrative, documentary, and television competition lineups. The lists includes the World Premiere of A DISTURBANCE IN THE FORCE, which was directed, produced and edited by our own Jeremy Coon.
Travel back to a galaxy far, far away—the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special. Dive into the mystery of how it happened and why 45 years later it has become, much to the chagrin of George Lucas, the ultimate cult classic among Star Wars fans.
The documentary is directed by Jeremy Coon (Napoleon Dynamite, Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made) and Steve Kozak (Whose Line Is It Anyway?). This pair also serves as producers of the film along with Adam F. Goldberg (The Goldbergs) and Kyle Newman (Fanboys). The documentary will feature Seth Green, Weird Al Yankovic, Taran Killam, Gilbert Gottfried, Bonnie Burton, Paul Scheer, Bruce Vilanch, Lenny Ripps, Donny Osmond, and Miki Herman.
IN CONVERSATION WITH ETHAN HAWKE AND BARRY POLTERMANN: THE LAST MOVIE STARS
Thanks to DocNYC and Malikkah Rollins for inviting us to speak at Editing Day for DocNYC this weekend.
Don Argott (Framing John DeLorean) hosted the panel, which DocNYC described as “a vibrant conversation with series director Ethan Hawke and editor Barry Poltermann as they go behind the scenes of their complex, acclaimed storytelling endeavor that explores the careers and decades-long relationship of Hollywood icons Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman. Creating a compelling story in the edit room that honors Newman and Woodward’s expansive careers and rocky marriage is a feat. Add to the mix access to a treasure trove of rich archival material plus thousands of pages of written transcript from Newman’s unpublished memoir and we have a multilayered editing experience.”
MELTDOWN nominated for IDA Award
Congrats to Matt Prekop, with an assist from Michael Vollmann, for their masterful editing. Meltdown: Three Mile Island nominated for an IDA Award for best doc series! From Deadline:
Best Multi-Part Documentary Nominees
Children of the Underground (United States | FX | Directors/Executive Producers: Gabriela Cowperthwaite, Ted Gesing | Producers: Grace Fardella, Giona Jefferson | Executive Producers: Dan Cogan, Liz Garbus, Jon Bardin, Kate Barry)
Hostages (United States | HBO Documentary Films/HBO Max | Directors: Abbas Motlagh | Directors/Producers: Maro Chermayeff, Jeff Dupre, Sam Pollard, Joshua Bennett | Producers: Saralena Weinfield | Executive Producers: Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, Sara Rodriguez)
Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey (United States | Netflix | Director/Executive Producer: Rachel Dretzin | Co-Director/Producer: Grace McNally | Executive Producers: Jeff Skoll, Diane Weyermann, Miura Kite, Zachary Herrmann, Alison Dammann)
Meltdown: Three Mile Island (United States | Netflix | Director/Executive Producer: Kief Davidson | Producer: William Wheeler | Executive Producers: Carla Santos Shamberg, Michael Shamberg, Dan Levinson, Robert Fernandez)
We Need to Talk About Cosby (United States | SHOWTIME Documentary Films, Boardwalk Pictures Production, WKB Industries | Director/Executive Producer: W. Kamau Bell | Executive Producers: Katie A. King, Andrew Fried, Sarina Roma, Jordan Wynn, Dane Lillegard, Vinnie Malhotra)
