Month: November 2019

This year’s DocLab opened with a video message from the Commander in Chief of the United States, but not the current one; speaking from his desk at the White House in 1969, President Richard Nixon held forth about the state of the arts and the future of technology. Not that long ago, this would have

The last time Alison Klayman found herself in Portugal, she was facing significantly different circumstances. It was late-December of 2018, and the documentarian was taking a quick break from an unrelenting editing schedule when she learned that her Steve Bannon portrait “The Brink” would premiere in Sundance. Only that made official the filmmaker’s unenviable task

In “After Parkland,” a documentary about the school shooting that took place on Feb. 14, 2018, in Parkland, Florida, leaving 17 high-school students dead and injuring 17 others, there’s a scene set at the Trump White House that bristles with personal grief and political rage. It’s one week after the shooting, and several students who

Art imitates life until the line between them blurs in “Europa, ‘Based on a True Story,’” Rwandan director Kivu Ruhorahoza’s provocative portrayal of a love affair gone bad that mirrors the growing social and racial tensions in Great Britain and Europe. Produced by Anthony Rui Ribeiro for Moon Road Films and co-produced by Cocoon Production,

“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” director Marielle Heller didn’t want Tom Hanks to wear any prosthetics when playing Fred Rogers in the biopic, which was inspired by the Esquire article “Can You Say … Hero?” by Tom Junod (played by Matthew Rhys as a character named Lloyd Vogel). Heller felt such measures would throw up

With giant interstellar battles, historic car races and intimate moments with iconic performers on the line, the sound teams behind many of the year’s best films stretched to design next-level soundscapes. Live performances just about always prove tricky, but Adrian Bell, production sound mixer for “Judy,” was able to find things in them that became

If there’s one story dominating the makeup and hairstyling category this awards season, it’s the instance where makeup wasn’t actually used. Oh, there’s plenty of makeup in “The Irishman,” as department head Nicki Ledermann can attest — she had to craft looks that spanned multiple decades and a physical cast of more than 200 actors

Editors for many of this year’s most-lauded movies were careful to let the audience feel they were making their own discoveries as the stories unfolded. “We had a structure that was so bold and the [deliberate] pace of the movie, which is slower than the way movies are often done today,” says Thelma Schoonmaker, three-time

Earlier this year, Ruth E. Carter won the costume design Oscar for her superheroic efforts in creating outfits for “Black Panther,” but 2020’s contenders are more likely to reflect the real world. And many of those assist the film’s story by undertaking their own journeys.In “Queen & Slim,” the titular fugitives spend the entire movie

Ruth E. Carter made history when she became the first African-American to win the Academy Award for Outstanding Costume Design add this year for “Black Panther.” Recently, she’s reteamed with Eddie Murphy on Netflix’s “Dolemite Is My Name”  (they previously collaborated on “Daddy Day Care,” “I Spy” and “Dr. Dolittle 2”),  for which where she

November 27, 2019 9:58AM PT The world of “Jojo Rabbit” is one that is seen through the eyes of a 10-year-old boy. His world is World War II Germany and his imaginary best friend is Hitler. Jojo dreams and aspires to be the greatest soldier and join the Nazis. Taika Waititi’s anti-hate satire builds a

Disney’s “Frozen 2” is dominating North American moviegoing, topping $160 million in its first five days. The animated adventure, which launched with a $130.3 million opening weekend, took in $12 million on Monday and an estimated $21 million on Tuesday. “Frozen 2” could add as much as $100 million to $120 million during the five-day Thanksgiving