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Posted by editor@vimooz.com on September 21, 2009 under Documentary, HBO, LGBT, Television | 
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Outrage, the controversial documentary that purports to expose the private lives of politicians who work against gay rights in public but lead homosexual lives in private, will air on HBO October 5 at 9 p.m. and again several more times that month.
Posted by editor@vimooz.com on May 21, 2009 under Academy award, Documentary, HBO | Comments are off for this article
“Smile Pinki,” which won this year’s Oscar for best short-subject documentary film premieres on the HBO cable channel on June 3.
From filmmaker Megan Mylan the film is a chronicle of one charitable organization’s effort to provide free reconstructive surgery to children in India born with cleft palates.
Posted by Laura Artesi on May 9, 2009 under Documentary, Foreign Film, HBO | Comments are off for this article
On Monday I was fortunate enough to attend the premier of a documentary by Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill entitled China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province, a heartbreaking story filmed during the aftermath of the earthquake that devastated provincial China on May 12th, 2008.
The film reveals the shocking figures that nearly 70,000 people were killed in the earthquake, but of those approximately 10,000 were children. This is largely due to the fact that many fallen buildings were schools – schools that had been inspected and deemed safe by government regulations. Parents stood, crying amidst the rubble of decimated school buildings, meanwhile most of the surrounding structures were completely in tact. The devastated parents, placing framed school pictures of their children together as if in ghostly classrooms, were left with nothing but questions as to how the school buildings were among the only structures that fell. Digging through the rubble, they discovered bricks held together with cement that brushed away like dust, and supporting walls where the mortar was mixed with sticks and was far too thin to meet building standards. They sought justice and answers, but when no member of the local government or rescue teams had visited them after 10 days, they banded together and began a 70 mile march toward the provincial capitol, carrying their children’s pictures like shields as they broke through police lines.
The documentary has no narration, but is told entirely by the editing together of interviews with the grieving parents and footage of their fight to ensure that their children’s deaths were not in vain. China still tries to enforce a strict one child policy, so many of the parents lost their only child. In reparation they were compensated the pithy sum of 317 dollars per child. Read more of this article »
Posted by editor@vimooz.com on April 25, 2009 under Documentary, HBO | Comments are off for this article
HBO Documentary Films has acquired the documentary “Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi.” Directed by award winner Ian Olds (”Occupation: Dreamland”), the film is a powerful insight into Afghan politics focusing on the kidnapping and murder of a young Afghan fixer/interpreter by the Taliban and his prior relationship with an American journalist. The feature-length documentary will have its North American premier on Saturday, April 25th at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival and will have its broadcast premiere on HBO in August.
Director Ian Olds says, “HBO is the best home I know of for documentaries in this country. They have a long track record of offering great non-fiction programming. I’m thrilled that FIXER will have its broadcast premiere on HBO.”
“Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi” follows the relationship between an Afghan interpreter and his client, American journalist Christian Parenti. This intimate portrait of two colleagues shifts dramatically when Ajmal is kidnapped along with an Italian reporter. The situation goes from bad to worse as foreign powers pressure for fast results, the Afghan government bungles its response and the specter of Taliban power looms in the background. What follows is the tragic story of one man forgotten in the crossfire: a brutal allegory of the proud land and perilous misadventure that is Afghanistan.
“Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi” is produced by Nancy Roth and Ian Olds, and is co-produced by Gabe Maxson.
Posted by editor@vimooz.com on March 21, 2009 under Documentary, HBO, Television | Comments are off for this article
The HBO documentary, “They Killed Sister Dorothy,” premiered before a sold-out, rapt audience of more than 500 at the Dayton Art Institute in Sister Dorothy’s hometown of Dayton, Ohio on Thursday, March 19, with the filmmaker and Sister Dorothy Stang’s family proudly in attendance.
Dorothy Stang, a nun with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, spent her life working on behalf of peasant farmers in the Amazon rain forest. She was murdered on Feb. 12, 2005, in what is largely believed to be a contract killing sponsored by wealthy ranchers in the area who opposed her sustainable development project. She was 73.
“They Killed Sister Dorothy” debuts on HBO2 Wednesday, March 25 at 8 p.m.
Posted by editor@vimooz.com on December 29, 2008 under Documentary, HBO, Television | Comments are off for this article
A documentary by a Denver filmmaker prompted a reinvestigation of a Brazilian rancher prosecutors say orchestrated the execution of a Roman Catholic nun in the Amazon. Sister Dorothy Stang was killed in February 2005 on public rainforest sought by ranchers for timber cutting and cattle grazing. The documentary “They Killed Sister Dorothy” was released earlier this year by Denver filmmaker Daniel Junge. Read more …
A former producer of BET’s Rap City and one-time Roc-A-Fella employee, Choke has combined footage stemming from over a decade and turned it into a probing documentary called I Am Choke No Joke. In the film, he offers his take on what caused the Roc-A-Fella fall-out. Choke hinted at a few segments that will be seen in his documentary and some of the main underlying issues that created the tension between Jay-Z and Dame (pictured). Read more …
Andrew Rossi’s 2007 documentary, ‘Le Cirque: A table in heaven’ about Le Cirque restaurant, one of NY City’s most revered celebrity hangouts premieres tonight on HBO . Read more …
Posted by editor@vimooz.com on September 23, 2008 under HBO, IFP, Industry | Comments are off for this article
IFP announced today that president of HBO Documentary Films Sheila Nevins will be presented with a Gotham Award Tribute at the 18th Annual Gotham Awards™ on Tuesday, December 2nd in New York.
Presented by IFP, the nation’s oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers, the Gotham Awards™ is one of the leading awards for independent film and the first major honors of the film awards season. The awards provide critical early recognition for worthy independent films, such as past winners JUNO (2007), HALF NELSON (2006), and JUNEBUG (2005) – all of which went on to earn numerous awards and Oscar™ nominations for their stars Ellen Page, Ryan Gosling, and Amy Adams, respectively.
“Sheila has unquestionably been one of the most influential forces in documentary filmmaking,” said Michelle Byrd, Executive Director of IFP. “She is almost singlehandedly responsible for bringing documentaries into mainstream popular culture. Her work has not only changed the documentary landscape, it’s opened minds and spurred change.”
During her tenure, HBO’s critically acclaimed documentaries have gone on to win 19 Academy Awards. Nevins’ remarkable career to date has had a formidable impact on the industry. She has also been a long time champion of IFP’s documentary programs including IFP’s “Spotlight on Documentaries”
Project Forum.
IFP also announced that Penélope Cruz, Gus Van Sant and Melvin Van Peebles would be presented with Gotham Awards Tributes at this year’s Gotham Awards.
Nevins, president of HBO Documentary Films, will be recognized for her contributions to the art of the documentary. She is responsible for overseeing the development and production of all documentaries for HBO and Cinemax and their multiplex channels. As an executive producer or producer, she has received 22 Primetime Emmy® Awards, 25 News and Documentary Emmys® and 28 George Foster Peabody Awards. Nevins was also presented with a Personal Peabody in recognition of her work and ongoing commitment to excellence.She holds a BA from Barnard College and an MFA in Directing from Yale University School of Drama.
Nominees for the 18th Annual Gotham Awards will be announced on October 20th, 2008, and winners will be honored at a star-studded ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street on December 2nd. Submissions are now being accepted in five of the six competitive categories, including: Best Feature, Best Documentary, Breakthrough Actor, Breakthrough Director and Best Ensemble Cast. Applications are available at http://gotham.ifp.org. The deadline for submissions is 5pm EST on Monday, September 22, 2008.