News

On Tuesday September 17 2024, ESPN broadcasts 30 for 30!

Stolen Gold Season 4 Episode Summary

The upcoming episode of “30 for 30,” titled “Stolen Gold,” promises to delve into a captivating moment in sports history. This episode is part of the documentary series that highlights significant events and stories in the world of sports. With a reputation for storytelling, “30 for 30” aims to bring to life the drama and intrigue surrounding this particular event.

“Stolen Gold” will explore a fascinating incident involving stolen Olympic medals. It will examine how the theft occurred and the impact it had on the athletes involved. The episode will include interviews with key figures, as well as archival footage that helps paint a vivid picture of the situation. Viewers can expect to learn about the challenges faced by the athletes and the wider implications of the theft on the sporting community.

As with other episodes in the series,...

On Saturday August 3 2024, ESPN broadcasts 30 for 30!

Dude Perfect: A Very Long Shot Season 4 Episode 19 Episode Summary

In this episode of “30 for 30,” titled “Dude Perfect: A Very Long Shot,” the story unfolds around a group of friends from College Station, Texas. Their journey from simple backyard games to becoming a global sports-comedy sensation is both entertaining and inspiring. The episode dives deep into how these friends turned their fun and creative antics into a phenomenon that captured the attention of millions.

Viewers will get a glimpse into the early days of Dude Perfect, exploring how their friendship and shared love for sports led to unique challenges and stunts. The episode highlights the challenges they faced along the way, including the hard work and dedication needed to turn a hobby into a successful career. With interviews and behind-the-scenes footage, the narrative showcases their growth and the impact they have made in the world of sports and entertainment.

On Monday July 29 2024, ESPN broadcasts 30 for 30!

American Son Season 4 Episode 20 Episode Summary

In this episode of “30 for 30,” titled “American Son,” the documentary series takes a closer look at a significant moment in sports history. The episode dives into the life and career of a notable athlete who has made a lasting impact on the world of sports. It highlights the challenges and triumphs faced along the way, offering viewers a deeper understanding of what it means to be a sports icon.

“American Son” explores themes of identity, perseverance, and the influence of sports on society. Through interviews, archival footage, and personal stories, the episode paints a vivid picture of the athlete’s journey. It sheds light on the struggles they encountered and the victories they achieved, showcasing how their experiences resonate beyond the playing field.

As the episode unfolds, it not only celebrates the athlete’s accomplishments but...

On Monday July 1 2024, ESPN broadcasts 30 for 30!

No Scope: The Story of FaZe Clan Season 4 Episode 21 Episode Summary

In this episode of “30 for 30” titled “No Scope: The Story of FaZe Clan,” viewers will delve into the world of competitive gaming and the rise of one of the most influential esports organizations, FaZe Clan. The documentary series, known for highlighting significant sports events, takes a closer look at the journey of FaZe Clan from its humble beginnings to becoming a powerhouse in the gaming industry.

The episode will explore the origins of FaZe Clan, the challenges they faced, and the impact they have had on the world of esports. Viewers will get an inside look at the players, the culture, and the community that have made FaZe Clan a household name in the gaming world. From intense competitions to behind-the-scenes moments, “No Scope: The Story of FaZe Clan” promises to be a...

On Tuesday June 11 2024, ESPN broadcasts 30 for 30!

False Positive Season 4 Episode 18 Episode Summary

In this episode of “30 for 30” titled “False Positive,” airing on ESPN, the acclaimed documentary series turns its lens to a notable sports happening that captivated audiences and sparked controversy. As with all “30 for 30” episodes, viewers can expect a deep dive into the intricacies of the story, accompanied by insightful interviews, archival footage, and expert analysis.

“False Positive” explores a specific event or phenomenon within the world of sports, shedding light on its impact and significance. Whether it’s a scandal, a triumph, or a moment of historical importance, each episode of “30 for 30” offers a compelling narrative that goes beyond the surface level of sports coverage. Through meticulous research and storytelling, the series uncovers the human drama behind the games we love.

Tune in to ESPN for “False Positive,” an episode of “30 for 30...

The Criterion Channel’s July lineup is an across-the-board display of strengths, ranging as it does from very specific programming cues to actor retrospectives and hardly ignoring the strength of Criterion Editions. Surely much fun’s to be had with “In the Ring,” a decade-spanning, 16-film curation of boxing pictures—Raging Bull and Fat City, of course, with some you forget are boxing movies (Rocco and His Brothers) and others you’ve likely never seen at all (count me excited for King Vidor’s The Champ). “Noir in Color” brilliantly upends common conception of a drama (and gives you excuse to see Nicholas Ray’s Party Girl); Setsuko Hara films are gathered into a handy collection; and Blake Edwards gets six.

On the Criterion Editions front they’ve gone all out: the Before trilogy, Alex Cox’s Walker, Leave Her to Heaven, Shaft, Destry Rides Again, Raging Bull, Hedwig and the Angry Inch,...

Exclusive: Libby Geist, one of the architects of ESPN’s growing documentary business and exec producer of The Last Dance and O.J: Made In America, is leaving the Disney-owned sports network.

Deadline understands that Geist, who is Vice President and Executive Producer, ESPN Films and Original Content, will work through to the end of 2020. It is understood that her departure is not connected to the recent layoffs introduced by the company and that she is leaving to move closer to production.

She is the latest top-level exec set to leave ESPN and comes after it emerged that content chief Connor Schell is leaving the company in the new year to set up his own production company.

Geist has been with ESPN for 12 years in a variety of roles. She has worked on more than 120 feature-length projects in various capacities and has overseen the docs department since 2016.

She has overseen development,...

NBCUniversal’s Lifestyle Group has promoted Jennifer Geisser to the position of executive vice president of communications and talent relations.

In her new role, Geisser (pictured left) will be responsible for internal and external communications, developing and executing publicity campaigns, talent management and corporate communications for multiple brands including E!’s international networks. The announcement was made by Lifestyle Networks president Frances Berwick to whom she will continue to report.

Geisser joined NBCU in 2011 as Svp of communications for Bravo, where she led publicity plans for shows such as “The Real Housewives,” “Million Dollar Listing,” “Top Chef” and “Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen.” She added Oxygen to her remit in 2013, before adding Universal Kids and most recently E! to her purview. Prior to NBCUniversal, she held leadership positions in comms at Hallmark Channel, Court TV ( tru TV), AMC Networks. She began her career at CBS and Dan Klores Communications.

ESPN Films’ 20-hour, six-week documentary “Basketball: A Love Story” more resembles a modern rom-com than your typical documentary. Rather than a chronological history lesson, it’s an episodic collection of anecdotes and stories that in some ways have more in common with “Love, Actually” than Ken Burns’ completist “Baseball.”

The film weaves through the heartbreaking story of paralyzed player Maurice Stokes and his dedicated teammate Jack Twyman to the bitter women’s basketball rivalry of Tennessee’s Pat Summit and Connecticut’s Geno Auriemma to tales of UCLA’s rise, the Dream Team, the Magic/Bird rivalry, the Aba and the emergence of international stars in the NBA with plenty of stops in-between.

“My film is not a history of basketball, because 20 hours is not even close to long enough,” says director Dan Klores. “But it’s historical so there is a lot of stuff that is not obvious. I...

"When the time came, I knew how to give the crowd something to stand up for." Now here's a terrific short film for sports fans. Do or Die is a short doc made by Dan Klores, who's also making a 20-episode series titled "Basketball: A Love Story" for ESPN. It's a journey back to the 1977-78 NBA season. The scoring title came down to the final day of the season, between "San Antonio's silky-smooth forward" George Gervin, and "high-flying Denver showman" David Thompson. They realized it was "do or die" that final day, and so the "greatest shootout in NBA history" took place - even though they weren't on the same court. There's no footage of the games, so this animates their games and uses interviews to tell the rest of the story. Enjoy. The short was premiered by Vimeo Staff Picks. Original description for Do or Die from Vimeo...

A movie is only as good as its ending. At the very least, that’s certainly how it can feel right after you finish watching one. Of course, each film demands a different kind of finale, and it would be futile to try and generically describe what makes for a “good” one — you know one when you see it. Some stories are best served by ending with a jarring twist that makes you reconsider everything you’ve seen before it. Others require the perfect note of ambiguity, or that immortal line of dialogue to help seal the deal. Every great film ends on its own terms, but all of them do so in a way that ultimately makes the whole experience impossible to forget. Here are the 20 best movie endings of the 21st Century.

Note: Needless to say, there’s a five-alarm spoiler alert in effect for the rest of this article.

In 2004, Fisher Stevens went to Ohio with a coalition of artists to help John Kerry get elected president. It didn’t work, but Stevens — an actor-turned-director best known for campy roles in a string of ’80s and ’90s films such as “Short Circuit” and “Hackers” — emerged a changed man. “It was a fucked-up time,” Stevens recalled over lunch near his offices in downtown Manhattan, “but this a whole other fucked-up time.”

Flash forward a dozen years and Stevens is enmeshed in a new stage of his career, as a prolific documentarian who moonlights as an actor. Six years ago, he won an Oscar as a co-producer of “The Cove,” photographer-turned-filmmaker Louie Psihoyos’ thrilling exposé of the Japanese fishing industry. By then, he had stepped away from GreeneStreet Films, the independent production company he started in 1996 with John Penotti. That same year, Stevens launched Insurgent Media with Andrew Kirsch and Erik Gordon...

Nobody really knows Fisher Stevens the director. We tend to think of him primarily as the actor who boldly went brownface for the Short Circuit movies and more recently appeared in a few episodes of Lost. (But if you’re really hip, you best remember him for My Science Project.) He also won an Oscar for producing the documentary The Cove three years ago. But he has been directing here and there since the mid-’90s. He helmed a little-known rom-com in 2002 called Just a Kiss and collaborated with Dan Klores on the also under-seen 2007 doc Crazy Love. This Friday, his biggest directorial effort to date, Stand Up Guys, opens theatrically in a modest number of locations considering it stars Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin. In anticipation of that new feature, I’d like to go back 18 years and look at Stevens’s directorial debut. It’s a short titled Call of the Wylie, and...

New York — Tom Hanks will play a gutsy New York City newspaper columnist when he makes his debut on Broadway in the spring.

Producers of Nora Ephron's play "Lucky Guy" announced Thursday that Hanks will play Mike McAlary in the stage biography. Hanks, a two-time Oscar winner, had been in negotiations for the role when Ephron died this summer.

Previews begin March 1 at the Broadhurst Theatre and an opening night is set for April 1.

McAlary, the city's one-time dominant tabloid reporter, got the first interview with Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant who was sodomized and beaten by white police officers at a station house in 1997. McAlary would win the Pulitzer Prize the next year but would die of cancer a few months later at age 41.

The director of "Lucky Guy" will be George C. Wolfe.

In June, lead producer Colin Callender said his team could "think of no more...

After doing the rounds on VoD for a few weeks, where many of you will have seen it, Sarah Polley's "Take This Waltz" starts to roll out in theaters from tomorrow, and we can't recommend it enough; it's a messy, sometimes frustrating film, but a deeply felt, beautifully made and wonderfully acted one, and we named it last week as one of the best of the year so far. It is not, however, recommended as a date movie, fitting into a long cinematic tradition of painful examinations of broken, decaying, collapsing or dead relationships.

After all, it's one of the more universal human experiences; unless you get very lucky, everyone who falls in love will at some point have the wrenching experience of falling out of it, or being fallen out of love with. And when done best in film, it can be bruising and borderline torturous for a filmmaker and an audience,...

Espn's acclaimed, Peabody Award-winning documentary series "30 for 30" will be returning with new films in October, the network announced today. Like the first series, "30 for 30 Vol. II" will unite a wide array of filmmakers to tell nonfiction stories from the sports world. Originally conceived of as a one-off set of 30 feature-length docs focusing on development from the "Espn era" -- aka the three decades since the sports network was founded in 1979 -- "30 for 30" was co-created by columnist and Grantland editor-in-chief Bill Simmons. And while it had a few duds, the series also included some great films that had appeal that went beyond sports fans -- Steve James' "No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson" was a high point, as were Jeff and Michael Zimbalist's Columbian soccer saga "The Two Escobars" and Dan Klores' "Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks." In addition to...

Whether you're a sports nut or not, some of the finest documentaries of the past few years have been found on Espn's "30 For 30" series. Kicking off in October 2009 and ending in December 2010 (which about a dozen more films added in 2011), the endeavor gave feature filmmakers creative control to helm docs about any sports subject that they were interested in, and the tactic resulted in some very strong work. Some of the highlights that premiered on the channel included "The Two Escobars" by Jeff and Michael Zimbalist; "Catching Hell" by Alex Gibney; "Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks" by Dan Klores and much more. In short, the series has spawned some utterly fascinating stories, and the good news is, there's more on the way.

The network has announced a new batch of docs are on the way, and they will start airing this fall. The directors involved are yet to be announced,...

Tom Hanks is in talks to make his Broadway debut, playing the lead character in Lucky Guy, Nora Ephron’s Broadway play about famed New York columnist Mike McAlary. The New York Post reported the news yesterday after months of speculation, and a spokesperson for Hanks confirms the two-time Oscar winner is in negotiations to tackle the role of the influential scribe, who covered the NYPD and chronicled some of New York’s most notorious crime stories at the end of the 20th century, just as print media was losing its dominant grip on the news cycle. Once a deal is finalized,...

YouTube Whitney Houston sings “The Star-Spangled Banner” on January 27, 1991 before Super Bowl Xxv in Tampa, Florida.

The moments happened, and we were immediately blown away.

On March 25, 1983, a 24-year-old Michael Jackson, four months removed from the release of a little ol’ album named Thriller, performed at the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today and Forever special in Pasadena, California. As he moonwalked across the stage, the thousands in attendance (and millions at home) gleefully clapped and cheered and howled as he...

When Spike Lee premiered Red Hook Summer at Sundance, media seemed to disregard everything he had to say, save for a short diatribe about how Hollywood doesn’t understand how to depict African Americans in film. His co-producer and co-writer James McBride wrote a thoughtful essay on the subject that appeared on Lee’s 40 Acres.com website, which is part of Lee’s 40 Acres and a Mule film company. I just caught up with it, and though it worth repeating. Lee’s 1986 film She’s Gotta Have It was, along with Steven Soderbergh’s sex lies & videotape and a few others, a seminal film that helped author the independent film revolution that is personified by Sundance. It’s a shame that Lee hasn’t gotten his due as a great American filmmaker and that he has been shut out by studios. I think his momentum was harmed when he took...

Crazy Love

Directed by Dan Klores

Fisher Stevens (co-director)

I will freely admit to having a particular fondness for upsetting documentaries. I’m intrigued by first-person narratives where terrible things happen to those telling the stories, to John Irving-esq tales of lives diverging in some horrible and unpredictable way. I am also fond of trashy docs; films about serial killers that present conjecture and hyperbole as fact and poorly-researched docs about neo-Nazis and Christian right-wing movements and generally tabloid-worthy investigations are the focus of some of my favourite things to watch for fun.

Unfortunately, Crazy Love is really neither. Too well researched and competently presented to be a trashy distraction but with a story far too trashy to be interesting in any other context, Dan Klores’s new film is a confusing experience.

The story, beginning in the late 1950’s, revolves around Bert Pugach, a New York lawyer, and...

Valentine’s Day is the time to show that special someone how much you care by lavishing them with gifts! Or it’s that irksome time of year where every business exploits the promise of love and romance to sell you candy, flowers, jewelry, and bow tie-wearing bears. This holiday is at once a day of sincerity and cynicism.

It’s truly a magical time.

No matter which side of the Vday divide you fall, we’ve got some choice movie picks whether you’re a love lover or a holiday hater.

————

For Those Who Love Love

Want something sweet to screen this Valentine’s Day?

Here’s a list of spectacular flicks that prove once and for all that love conquers all!

Love Actually {2003}

Rom-com master Richard Curtis’ Christmas-set ensemble piece weaves together various feel-good tales (for the most part) that reveal the various ways of love. Full of beloved actors,...

Espn’s 30 for 30 – a collection of 30 documentaries by 30 filmmakers crated to commemorate the sports network’s thirtieth anniversary – has finally hit DVD, and with the help of special guest Mike Waldman, we’re going to discuss four of its more memorable entries. First up is Peter Berg’s King’s Ransom, an account of Wayne Gretsky’s fateful move from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings; Winning Time, Dan Klores’ hugely entertaining portrait of the Knicks vs. Pacers rivalry, headed by the incomparable Reggie Miller; The Two Escobars, Jeff and Michael Zimbalist’s epic account of corruption, glory, and death in and around Columbian soccer in the days of Pablo Escobar; and finally, The Birth of Big Air, the story of BMX pioneer Mat Hoffman’s quest to push the limits of physics – and his body – in order to scale the skies, directed by Jeff Tremaine.

Editor’s...

"The Fighter," based on the life of boxer "Irish" Micky Ward, has been a dream project of Mark Wahlberg's for years. The film comes out this week, and inspired by its release we've devoted this week's IFC News podcast to boxing at the movies, from '40s films like "The Set-Up" to the evolution of the "Rocky" franchise to "Raging Bull" to the girl fighting of "Girlfight" and "Million Dollar Baby." Adrian!

Download MP3, 1:03:47 minutes, 58.4 Mb

Subscribe iTunes | Xml

This week's keyword game giveaway is four copies of the Espn Films 30 for 30 Gift Set Collection, Volume 1, which includes the first 15 films in Espn's sports documentary series, including Dan Klores' "Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks" and Steve James "No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson." The set will be available in stores on December 7th.

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater has announced the cast and creative team for the world premiere of Little Doc, written by award-winning filmmaker Dan Klores and directed by John Gould Rubin. Opening the company's 16th Season, performances of Little Doc will begin Friday, June 11 at Rattlestick Theatre (224 Waverly Place). The official opening night is set for Thursday, June 17. The production is scheduled to run through July 18.

Update: Former PR guy Dan Klores has spent the last decade making documentaries on New York-centric subjects. So, natch, he'll next focus his camera on Gotham's Jimmy Breslin. Klores will begin work in September on Breslin: The Great One, which will simultaneously chronicle the rise of Breslin and the heyday of newspapers. It will also explore their struggle to stay relevant in the digital age and why no one has replaced Breslin as NYC's dominant columnist. “He created the idea of a columnist who followed the news and personalized it, and his career expanded as newspapers did,” Klores said. “Now, he’s a man without a [...]...

2010 Tribeca Film Festival Announces Awards

* * *

When We Leave (Die Fremde), Dog Pound, Monica & David, And The Arbor Win Top Awards In Juried World Competitions

* * *

More Than $150,000 Handed Out In Cash Prizes

[April 29, 2010 – New York, NY] –The ninth annual Tribeca Film Festival, co-founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, and presented by founding sponsor American Express, announced the winners of its world competition categories tonight at a ceremony hosted at the W Union Square in New York City.

The world competition winners for narrative and documentary films were chosen from 12 narrative and 12 documentary features from 20 countries. Two awards were given to honor New York films, which were chosen from seven narrative and six documentary features. Awards were also given for the best narrative, best documentary and student visionary films in the short film competitions. This year’s Festival included 85 features and 47 short films from 38 countries.

Also announced at the awards were the...

The juror panel at the Tribeca Film Festival is going to look like the red carpet at a major Hollywood premiere.

Several celebrities, including Jessica Alba, Whoopi Goldberg, Aaron Eckhart and Brooke Shields, were asked to serve on the six competitive festival categories. They will announce the winning films, filmmakers and actors in their respective categories at the Tff Awards Night Party, which will be held on April 29. The 2010 Tribeca Festival runs from April 21 to May 2 in New York City.

“This year’s jury features the same impressive range and depth as our films playing in competition. They are distinctive and accomplished storytellers, artists and entrepreneurs from the worlds of film, theater, culture, fashion, television and new media – all of whom share a passion for film, a thirst for discovery and a spirit of independence,” said Jane Rosenthal, co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival.

Here’s a list of all...

The Tribeca Film Festival announced Tuesday morning the 35 jurors for its six competition categories.

Filmmakers, actors, screenwriters, journalists and media figures such as Aaron Eckhart, Jessica Alba, Cheryl Hines, America Ferrera, Alicia Keys, Zach Braff, Hope Davis, Gary Ross, Whoopi Goldberg and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey will participate on the juries.

"This year's jury features the same impressive range and depth as our films playing in competition," fest co-founder Jane Rosenthal said. "They are distinctive and accomplished storytellers, artists and entrepreneurs from the worlds of film, theater, culture, fashion, television and new media -- all of whom share a passion for film, a thirst for discovery and a spirit of independence."

Winners in the world narrative, world documentary, New York narrative, New York documentary, narrative short and documentary and student short film categories will be announced at the awards night party April 29. Together, the six juries will award $130,000 in cash and prizes,...

Turns out, Reggie Miller secretly was one of us. Maybe that’s why he was great. And why he ticked us off. “He has all the stereotypical characteristics of a New Yorker,” filmmaker Dan Klores says of his most recent subject. “He’s bold. He’s cocky. He’s arrogant. He’s brash. He’s supposed to be one of us. “New Yorkers resented Reggie, but if he was on our team he would get a tickertape parade.” The former Indiana Pacers superstar — and the rest of us — will gladly celebrate Klores’ movie instead.

In Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. the New York Knicks, director Dan Klores recounts one of the NBA’s most underrated rivalries in a beautifully crafted tale that centers around three Pacers/Knicks playoff series from 1993 to 1995. After screening at Sundance in January, the doc will make its TV debut this Sunday on Espn. I’d like to see this, if only to witness the epic trash-talking that went on between Reggie Miller and Spike Lee.

Dan Klores thought he was finished with sports films. Then Reggie Miller crept into his consciousness. The result is Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. the New York Knicks, which airs Sunday (3/14/10) on Espn, after playing at this year's Sundance Film Festival. "I didn't want to do another sports film," says Klores, a one-time journalist and founder of his own PR firm, who has segued into filmmaking full-time. "But then I was at a Knicks' game with my son and I thought it could be fun. "Fun - that was the word. When I started, I said I needed to make it fun for everyone. Before every interview, I said to the person I was interviewing, 'This should be fun.' My approach was not Reggie as a basketball player but that Reggie was a performance artist and Madison Square Garden was clearly...

Repertory theaters on the coasts are truly offering a window onto the world this spring, with Jia Zhangke and Bong Joon-ho retrospectives, as well as New French Cinema in New York, "Freebie and the Bean," "Killer Klowns from Outer Space" and Jason Reitman's favorite films invade Los Angeles, and the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin is offering a fond farewell to the video cassette. But consider this a hello to seeing classics, oddities and rarities on the big screen over the next few months.

Cities: [New York] [Los Angeles] [Austin] More Spring Preview: [Theatrical Calendar]

[Anywhere But a Movie Theater]

New York

92YTribeca

Is there a more energetic way to start the spring than with a screening of Russ Meyer's "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" (Feb. 20, with editors Rumsey Taylor, Leo Goldsmith and Jenny Jediny in attendance)? Perhaps not, but it's only the start of an exciting spring season at the 92YTribeca Screening Room, which will present several special events over the next few months.

DreamWorks is prepping a dramatic feature adaptation of Marshall Curry's documentary "Racing Dreams," with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci producing."Dreams," which won best documentary at last year's Tribeca Film Festival, follows three young racers as they compete in the World Karting Association's National Pavement Series and move closer to achieving their dream of becoming Nascar racers. According to Variety, DreamWorks will hire a writer in the next few weeks.Steven Puri and Bobby Cohen are executive producing alongside Dany Garcia and Dwayne Johnson. Jack Turner, Bristol Baughan and Marshall Curry are also executive producing."Racing Dreams" continues a recent trend in Hollywood, with numerous award-winning documentaries like Seth Gordon's "King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" and Dan Klores' "Crazy Love" being...

Updates Bids Coming In For Hot Sundance Pics Updates So What Are The Hot Films At Sundance? While Sundance buyers try to hook Catfish, two other docus that came with distributors unveil today and tomorrow, and I found them great viewing. Alex Gibney has a 6 Pm premiere today for the competition entry Casino Jack And The United States Of Money, about disgraced Washington DC lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Tomorrow, PR mogul-turned-filmmaker Dan Klores unveils Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. the New York Knicks, which like Catfish is part of the Documentary Spotlight program. Gibney -- the Oscar-winning director of Taxi To The Darkside and Enron: [...]...

Yesterday we got the list for the films playing in competition at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and today we get the rest of the films that will be featured and there are quite a few that make 2010 look much stronger based on pedigree alone than I have seen in quite some time. Variety has a big write-up detailing the categories and more on the festival right here, but I am just going to offer up the titles and let you sort it all out.

The titles already in the RopeofSilicon database are linked.

Premieres

All films are from the United States unless otherwise noted Abel (Mexico-u.S.), the directorial debut of actor Diego Luna, written by Luna and Agusto Mendoza, about a peculiar young boy who, as he blurs reality and fantasy, takes over the responsibilities of a family man in his father's absence. With Jose Maria Yazpik, Karina Gidi,...

Michael Klenfner, the Brooklyn-born bruiser who started off as a bouncer at the Fillmore East and became a top record promoter, died Tuesday of heart disease at age 62. A memorial service will be held tomorrow at 10 a.m. at Riverside Memorial Chapel. "Michael's idea of a diet was to go to Peter Luger's instead of The Palm," said one friend. "He was truly a music business legend, a brilliant salesman, a disciple of Clive Davis. He spoke to Allen Grubman every single day." Klenfner was known for riding a motor scooter around town, and, the friend said,...

Espn is taking a trip to the "Diner."

The network has brought on Barry Levinson to helm one of its documentaries in its "30 for 30" program.

The prolific writer-director, who has explored his native Baltimore in scripted pics such as "Avalon" and "Tin Men," will examine the Baltimore Colts' ignoble middle-of-the-night escape to Indianapolis in 1984.

"And the Band Marched On" will cover owner Robert Irsay's decision to sneak the team out of the city after a string of losing seasons; Levinson, a longtime Baltimore Colts fans, will investigate "how a fan base copes with losing the team that it loves," Espn said, in what will be his first documentary.

The sports giant also said Monday that it had signed up several more directors as part of its ambitious program, which aims to match noted filmmakers with subjects they're passionate about.

Barbara Kopple will helm a documentary about the Steinbrenners in which...

Espn has just announced that three additional filmmakers for Espn Films' "30 for 30" film project have been secured. Dan Klores (Black Magic, Crazy Love), Barry Levinson (Diner, The Natural) and Albert Maysles (Gimme Shelter, Grey Gardens) along with previously announced participant, Barbara Kopple (Harlan County USA and Shut Up & Sing), will film a variety of sports subjects from the past 30 years in sports. The subjects are: Reggie Miller and the New York Knicks, The Steinbrenners, The Baltimore Colts' departure to Indianapolis and the title fight between Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes. Debuting on Espn in October 2009, "30 for 30" will showcase the work of 30 filmmakers to create 30 one-hour films on sports topics from...

A $15 million lawsuit against award-winning director Dan Klores over his documentary "Crazy Love," filed by its two stars, has been tossed out by a Queens Supreme Court judge. Disbarred lawyer Burt Pugach and Linda Riss, who married Pugach after he spent 14 years in jail for blinding her with acid, had accused Klores of falsely enticing them into signing over the rights to their story. "We are pleased, but we are not surprised" by the dismissal, said Klores' lawyer, Mathew Rosengart. But Pugach vows to appeal.

• The first among a slew of critic associations, societies and circles, the Boston Society of Film Critics awarded home town fav. Gone Baby Gone with a pair of wins, but the real tussle in many categories (we should be seeing similar results in other cities) is between the American film classic favorite No Country for Old Men and art-house, Euro-like The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Frank Langella picks up est actor and thus receiving more kudos for his perf in Starting Out in the Evening while Marion Cotillard will be part of a two-way race for Oscar (against Julie Christie's Away From Her). Best documentary film goes to Dan Klores' Crazy Love and Pixar's summer film release will be a lock for Best animation this year. Here is the complete list of winners below:... Best Picture: No Country For Old Men Best Actor: Frank Langella for

...

• In an era where Joey Budafucco is now engaged to Amy Fischer and Mary K. Laturno is now married to the boy who fathered her child at venerable age of 12, it should come as little surprise that Linda Riss is married to Burt Pugach, the man who hired hit men to throw acid in her face more than forty years ago. It was a crime inspired by passionate jealousy after all. Dan Klores’s (Ring of Fire) new documentary Crazy Love, flows chronologically and hits all the standard interviews from friends and family who appear more than eager to comment. It’s not hard to see why a man like Burt Pugach is screwed up. The beginning of the film deals with his traumatic childhood, which included regular beatings and berating from his possessive mother. Driven into a possessive mentality Burt became a prominent negligence lawyer amassing large amounts of wealth,

...

The Film Sales Co. has closed international sales on Dan Klores and Fisher Stevens' Crazy Love, which premiered at January's Sundance Film Festival.

The documentary, which follows the five-decade roller-coaster relationship between Linda Riss and Burt Pugach that landed the pair's saga on the cover of newspapers and magazines, will be released in the fall by Tartan Films in the U.K., Palace Films in Australia and Shani Films in Israel.

Released domestically by Magnolia Pictures, Crazy hits U.S. theaters Friday.

• Some couples can’t get enough of one another. Let’s just say that this upcoming June doc tests those limits. When I was first flipping through the film selections offered in this year’s Sundance fest guide, I remembered reading the passage to this Dan Klores' doc and thinking... is this a real life version of the kind of mangled and abusive relationship found in Scorsese’s Raging Bull? The B&W feature saw Cathy Moriarty to as the abused wife to Bobby DeNiro’s interpretation of Jake Lamotta. Comparisons to the age difference older male/young female, the time period and to the setting (The Bronx) are perhaps what made me think this in the first place. Today, we have the exclusive first look at the poster one sheet. Magnolia Pictures will release the documentary film on June 1st. Hoping to repeat the profitability and popularity

...

• Ioncinema.com presents: Best of FestsFULL Frame FESTIVALWhere: April 12 to 15, 2007 Counting Down: updateCountdownClock('April 12, 2007'); Location: Durham, North Carolina - United States Official Website: fullframefest.org/What: Founded in 1998 by Nancy Buirski, and now recognized as the premier documentary film festival in the United States by both The New York Times and indieWIRE, the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival celebrates the power and artistry of documentary film. The festival is an important arena for documentary filmmakers — a place where they can showcase their work theatrically in an environment that stimulates conversation and community between other filmmakers, industry executives and the general public. Sections: (Click for more info!) Full Schedule: Power of Ten: Special Programming: Panel & Workshops8 Bit - Marcin Ramocki, Justin Strawhand Alice Sees The Light - Ariana GersteinAngels in the Dust - Louise HogarthThe Ants - Kaoru IkeyaBanished - Marco WilliamsBeyond Selinunte - Salvo CucciaBlockade - Sergei Loznitsa

...

PARK CITY -- The dropping temperatures at the Sundance Film Festival seem to be tempering the acquisition fever that usually accompanies the annual Utah confab. While acquisition executives are looking at a healthy number of films premiering at the event, no one title has sent any firm into an unreasonable bidding war.

That being said, a number of titles have been sold or are in the process of being sold to a wide array of distributors.

Although opening-weekend deals didn't reach the stratospheric heights of last year's $10.6 million price tag for Little Miss Sunshine or the $6 million sale of The Science of Sleep, or 2005's Hustle & Flow, which went for $9 million, they still retained some of the late-night negotiating hustle that has become a Sundance staple.

James C. Strouse's John Cusack starrer Grace Is Gone lived up to its prefest buzz, luring the likes of the Weinstein Co., Fox Searchlight and Sony Pictures Classics into an all-night bidding war. The Weinstein Co. nabbed worldwide rights to the movie for $4 million, closing the sale at 4:30 a.m. in co-seller Cinetic Media's Deer Valley condo.

Dan Klores' documentary Crazy Love marked the first sale of the festival, fetching mid-six figures from Magnolia Pictures for North American rights excluding television. The film tells the bizarre, half-century love story of Burt and Linda Pugach, a New York couple who got married decades after Burt spent years in jail for blinding Linda.

Negotiations also heated up Sunday afternoon on the George Ratcliff-directed Joshua, with multiple parties entering the talks. Fox Searchlight was among several distributors vying for the psychological thriller, which centers on a precocious child who wreaks havoc on his family. Although the deal hadn't closed by press time, Searchlight is almost certain to be the buyer. UTA and attorney Andrew Hurwitz are co-selling the project.

Despite repeated denials that they were buying the feature, sources said late Sunday that the Weinstein Co.

PARK CITY -- Magnolia Pictures nailed a deal late Saturday for North American rights to Crazy Love, director Dan Klores' provocative documentary about a couple who marries some 16 years after the man has acid thrown in his future wife's face.

In the first theatrical deal of the Sundance festival, Magnolia bought domestic rights Saturday afternoon for mid-six figures. Klores retains international, TV and remake rights to the docu.

Klores and his producing partner Fisher Stevens took the chance of pre-screening the film before the festival, a risky decision that could have backfired dependent on how the film played. But according to Fisher, they thought they had the goods. "It was Dan's idea to go early and I agreed," said Stevens.

Klores, a native New Yorker, remembers reading about the seminal incident in Linda and Burt Pugach's lives, when Pugacah had his fiance blinded because he thought he was losing her to another man. But it wasn't until Klores read a New York Times story about the couple who reconnected after Pugach's 16-year jail sentence and wound up marrying each other that he decided to pursue the project.

• Magnolia Pictures were first ones out of the gate at the Sundance film festival – picking up the North American theatrical rights to Crazy Love - a documentary film. Magnolia made some good coin with the Enron film a couple of years back.Former publicity head Dan Klores’ doc is about the troubling true story of an obsessive relationship between a married man and a beautiful, single 20-year-old woman that started in 1957 and continues. Pugach, a lawyer and playboy in the 1950's, courted Riss, but she eventually spurned him. Pugach then hired a man to throw acid in Riss' face. Riss was blinded in the attack. Pugach served time in prison for the incident, but in an odd twist, Riss married him after he got out of prison, and the couple has remained wed for decades. Their story has been a source of intrigue for New York tabloids on and off over the years.

...

• Quick Links  Complete Film Listing: Premieres Dramatic Comp  World Dramatic Comp World Doc Comp Spectrum: Park City at Midnight: New Frontier Short Film Programs January 18 to 28, 2007 Counting Down: updateCountdownClock('January 18, 2007'); Another eclectic docu section this year ranging in subject matters such as U.S Foreign policies, internal American struggles, global issues and human portraits of the young, old and stupid. On the war front we have Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, where Rory Kennedy looks at the abuses at the Iraqi prison, No End in Sight by Charles Ferguson looks at the chain of decisions that led to the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq and in hindsight. White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki directed by Steven Okazaki looks at the human cost of atomic warfare.On the global scale, Judith Helfand and Daniel B. Gold’s Everything's Cool looks at alternative energy

...

• Here is the complete listing for this year's Sundance film festival which kicks off tomorrow!January 18 to 28, 2007 Counting Down: updateCountdownClock('January 18, 2007'); Premiere's section lineup:An American Crime - Tommy O'Haver Away From Her - Sarah Polley Black Snake Moan - Craig BrewerChapter 27 - Jarrett Schaefer Chicago 10 - Brett Morgen Clubland - Cherie Nowlan The Good Night - Jake Paltrow King of California - Mike Cahill Life Support - Nelson George Longford - Tom Hooper The Nines - John August Resurrecting the Champ - Rod Lurie The Savages - Tamara Jenkins Son of Rambow - Garth Jennings Summer Rain - Antonio Banderas Trade - Marco Kreuzpaintner Year of the Dog - Mike White Dramatic Competition:Adrift in Manhattan - Alfredo de Villa Broken English - Zoe CassavetesFour Sheets to the Wind - Sterlin HarjoThe Good Life - Steve BerraGrace Is Gone - James C. StrouseHounddog - Deborah Kampmeier Joshua

...