In today’s film news roundup, Michael Moore gets a lifetime achievement award, “Hotel by the River” gets a domestic release, and “Dawn Wall” is set for a one-night re-release.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
Michael Moore has been selected as the recipient of the Critics’ Choice Lifetime Achievement Award and will receive the honor at the third annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards.
The event will take place on Nov. 10 at BRIC in Brooklyn with Bill Nye hosting. Moore’s “Fahrenheit 11/9” grossed $5.7 million in two weeks of release.
Broadcast Film Critics Association president Joey Berlin notes, “2018 has been hailed as ‘The Year of the Documentary’ and we are extremely proud to highlight the outstanding achievements in the Feature Documentary and TV/Streaming fields and give these creative filmmakers the proper recognition they deserve.”
The awards are determined by qualified members of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association (BTJA), and feature multiple categories across both television and film. The nominees, selected by a committee of BFCA and BTJA members with a background and
expertise in the documentary field, will be revealed on Oct. 15.
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ACQUISITION
Cinema Guild has bought all U.S. distribution rights to Hong Sang-soo’s “Hotel by the River,” which will make its U.S. premiere this weekend at the New York Film Festival.
It was an official selection of the Toronto International Film Festival and lead actor Ki Joo-bong won the Pardo for best actor at the Locarno Film Festival when the film premiered in August. “Hotel by the River” will open in theaters in 2019.
The film tells the story of an aging poet, Younghwan (Ki Joo-bong), who summons his two estranged sons (Kwon Hae-hyo and Yu Jun-sang) to a solitary hotel beside the Han River because he feels his death is near. While waiting for them to arrive, he meets two women (Kim Min-hee and Song Seon-mi) out walking in the newly fallen snow.
“We always expect great things from Hong’s films,” said Cinema Guild’s Peter Kelly, “but even we were unprepared for the clear-eyed revelation of his latest. Audiences will enjoy their stay at ‘Hotel by the River.’”
The deal was negotiated by Kelly with Youngjoo Suh of Finecut.
RE-RELEASE
The climbing documentary “Dawn Wall” will be re-released on Oct. 8 into 435 North American locations.
The film follows free climber Tommy Caldwell as he tries to get over heartbreak by scaling the Dawn Wall of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.
The film was produced by Red Bull Media in association with Sender Films. The film won the South by Southwest Audience Award earlier this year, and last month, a one night theatrical release in over 600 theaters nationwide drew nearly 70,000 attendees.