LA Times Today features Barry Poltermann, film editor, today at 7 p.m. Barry is the film editor of “The Last Movie Stars” — now a six-part docuseries from HBO Max. In the thick of the pandemic, actor and director Ethan Hawke rallied his actor friends to a series of Zooms where they became the voices… more »
From Forbes: As a producer, director, story supervisor and editor, primarily working in the documentary field for about three decades, Barry Paltermann is also the co-founder of the production company The September Club. Specializing in documentaries for movies, television and streaming — from feature films to digital shorts and documentary series (like The Last Movie… more »
The reviews are outstanding for THE LAST MOVIE STARS. It is now one of the best reviewed documentary series in history. The Last Movie Stars delivers the goods as a revealing retrospective of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward’s romance, but director Ethan Hawke elevates this docuseries into a revelatory exploration of marriage and stardom. And… more »
When war besieges the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh (Karabakh), writer and photographer Lika takes cover in a bunker — and begins to write a diary. Little does she know that her words will become not only the definitive chronicle of the brutal 44-day war, but also a universal portrait of a woman who undertakes a… more »
From The Hollywood Reporter: Early in The Last Movie Stars, a longform documentary that manages to be both meta and charming, cerebral and deeply felt, Ethan Hawke is geeking out on Zoom with some of his fellow actors. The object of their professional appreciation and endearing enthusiasm is Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, together and… more »
“Meltdown: Three Mile Island” is launching on Netflix to great reviews, including today’s from VARIETY: The partial meltdown at the nuclear power plant at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979 was a perfect coalescing of factors in two senses. First, a series of cascading mechanical and human errors brought the plant close to a… more »
SXSW previewed the first episode of “The Last Movie Stars” today at The Paramount Theater at SXSW. Richard Linklater was there to do the Q&A with Ethan. From IndieWire: With five additional chapters to “The Last Movie Stars” still to go, it’s unknown whether the doc will maintain the balance of documentary with acting class… more »
Today we learned that our branded feature documentary Make|Shift won a Clio for Branded Entertainment & Content within the Business-to-Business category. alongside mega-brands like NFL, Chipotle, Amazon, Google and the Simpsons. Only 11 projects in the world medaled.
The IDA announced today that: Whirlybird, a film about the couple who pioneered helicopter news coverage in Los Angeles, has won the ABC News VideoSource Award. This Award goes to the film that best utilizes contemporary or historical factual footage shot for use in context such as newsreels, news specials, magazines or nightly news. Whirlybird (USA… more »
Talkhouse just published a great piece written by director Matt Yoka recollecting the premiere of WHIRLYBIRD. For those of us who were there, it brought back a lot of memories. From the article: It was a new chapter in the ongoing saga of a city built on dreams and nightmares. Another mythical L.A. icon had… more »
Congratulations to Matt Prekop and Erin Elders… The world premiere of their film “The Cleaner” took place at the Catalina Film Festival as the festival’s closing night film at the historic Avalon Theater. King Orba was awarded Best ACTOR for the festival. Screen Magazine calls the film “a taut and moving emotional drama.” Here is a… more »
Tulsa TV-6 news reports on the moving tribute given to ALLEY, the subject of our heart warming festival-favorite short film, OPERATION ALLEY. We are currently making a feature length documentary on Anthony Marquez and his squad who served together — with Alley — in Afghanistan. A U.S. Marine said goodbye to the dog he served… more »
“Whirlybird” opens this weekend in major markets. Some early reviews: “Whirlybird” proves a memorably evocative time capsule of 1980s and ’90s Los Angeles and the people who made – and captured – the news, as well as a stirring portrait of regret. — Los Angeles Times Drawing on an amazing video stockpile from the 1980s… more »
BOYS STATE directors/producers Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine from this morning following their two Emmy nominations this morning for Outstanding Documentary Or Nonfiction Special and Outstanding Directing For A Documentary/Nonfiction Program. “Our journey with Boys State has been one of continuous surprise. This latest turn of events is as thrilling as Steven Garza’s underdog campaign for… more »
American Movie will be arriving on The Criterion Channel in July. Their synopsis: “It takes a village to make a movie, but when that village is Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, the results are bizarre, comical, and quintessentially American. With the help of his mother, his eighty-two-year-old uncle, and a local cast of oddballs, DIY filmmaker Mark… more »
Nielsen has “Why Did You Kill Me?” at 253 million minutes streamed in our first 5 days, which put us as the #2 most viewed movie that week across all streaming platforms even though the movie wasn’t out for the full week. From the Hollywood Reporter: Nielsen’s streaming top 10s for April 12-18 are below…. more »
On today’s MARKETPLACE MORNING REPORT, David Brancaccio reacts to “The Last Blockbuster” and gleans some financial lessons, selecting it as his documentary pick of the month. From the Marketplace website: While our movie this month runs thick with people nostalgic for Blockbuster video stores (may those stores rest in peace), I am not one of… more »
Just got word that make/SHIFT was named a 2021 Webby Honoree for video/documentary. That puts us in the top 9 finalists of the year (others included Roblox, Google, National Geographic and WebMD). Congratulations to Casey Suchan, Matt Prekop, Tim Cawley, and the entire team who worked on this amazing piece of brand marketing. Check out this… more »
In the last month we’ve had 3 of the top 10 highest rated films on Netflix — THE LAST BLOCKBUSTER, MURDER AMONG THE MORMONS, and now WHY DID YOU KILL ME? The New #1 Movie on Netflix Is a Must-Watch True-Crime Doc Where the Victim’s Family Tries to Catfish the Killer During our daily Netflix… more »
From Variety: “The Oxy Kingpins” is a documentary that feels like it could be a Martin Scorsese movie. It’s “The Wolf of Wall Street” meets “The Insider” — the story of a scurrilous illegal business, and one of the hotshot thrill junkies who rode it to riches, and how that business connects up to… more »
First, it debuted at the #4 position on Netflix Most Watched Movie’s list, and now comes this news on The Last Blockbuster, from The Chicago Tribune: “Since the documentary aired March 15, people from all over the world have sent flowers and called the store just to say “thank you” for staying open. In the… more »