By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

Cinema Eye Honors Announces Nominees for 7th Annual Nonfiction Film Awards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Cinema Eye Honors Announces Nominees for 7th Annual Nonfiction Film Awards

Cutie and the Boxer Nominated for Six Awards, The Act of Killing Up for Five

After Tiller, Leviathan and Stories We Tell Round Out Feature Film Nominees
First Nominees for Television Award Announced

Alan Berliner, Alex Gibney, Julie Goldman, Dave Grohl, Sheila Nevins, Jehane Noujaim, Laura Poitras,

Sarah Polley, Jeremy Scahill and Lucy Walker Among This Year’s Nominated Filmmakers

November 6, 2013, New York, New York – Forty feature films and six shorts will vie for this year’s Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking as nominees were announced this evening at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center in New York City at an event hosted by the Tribeca Film Institute.

Five films are in the running for Cinema Eye’s top award, Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking: Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing, Martha Shane and Lana Wilson’s After Tiller, Zachary Heinzerling’s Cutie and the Boxer, Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel’s Leviathan and Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell.  Nominees for Outstanding Feature were determined by votes from both the 23-person nominations committee as well as more than 80 directors of this year’s eligible films.

Zachary Heinzerling’s Cutie and the Boxer led all films with six nominations, while The Act of Killing received five. Heinzerling and the directing duos from two films nominated for Outstanding Feature – Leviathan’s Castaing-Taylor & Paravel and After Tiller’s Shane and Wilson – all led individual nominees with four nominations apiece.  Making Cinema Eye history with his nomination in the feature film category, Lucien Castaing-Taylor becomes the first person to be nominated for Outstanding Feature after having been previously nominated for Outstanding Debut (he was nominated in 2011 for Sweetgrass).

Nominees for Outstanding Achievement in Direction included Alan Berliner for First Cousin Once Removed, Tinatin Gurchiani for The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear, Oppenheimer for The Act of Killing, Shane and Wilson for After Tiller, Castaing-Taylor and Paravel for Leviathan and Polley for Stories We Tell.  This marks the first time in Cinema Eye history that more women were nominated for the Directing Award than their male counterparts.  In addition, of the 11 individuals nominated for Cinema Eye’s top Feature Film award, 7 are women.

Cinema Eye also announced nominees for their inaugural award for Nonfiction Films Made for Television.  Four of the six nominees came from HBO Documentary Films, including Lucy Walker’s The Crash Reel, Dawn Porter’s Gideon’s Army, Alex Gibney’s Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God and Sebastian Junger’s Which Way to the Front Line From Here: The Life and Times of Tim Hetherington.  PBS nabbed the other two nominations, one for Susan Lacy’s Inventing David Geffen (American Masters) and Christine Turner’s Homegoings (POV).  As the new television award recognizes the key producers from the network, the nominations for HBO Documentary Films’ Sheila Nevins (with four nods) and Sara Bernstein (with three) mark a first in Cinema Eye history – multiple nominations within the same category (but for different films).

The nomination for Sebastian Junger’s film about Tim Hetherington is notable. Junger and Hetherington were both nominated for two Cinema Eye awards in 2011 for their film Restrepo, and Hetherington posthumously won the Cinema Eye Honor for Nonfiction Short in 2012 for his film, Diary.

In the short film category, six films have been nominated, including the notable inclusion of Laura Poitras’ Death of a Prisoner, which first appeared as a New York Times Op-Doc.  Poitras won the Cinema Eye Honor for Direction in 2011 for her film, The Oath.  She’s been at the center of one of the biggest global news stories of 2013 – the revelation of Edward Snowden’s identity and the secret spying by the United States government on American citizens and international allies.

Ten contenders were named for Cinema Eye’s Audience Choice Prize, which includes many of the most talked about and beloved documentaries of the year, including Morgan Neville’s 20 Feet From Stardom, Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s Blackfish, Greg “Freddy” Camalier’s Muscle Shoals, Mona Eldaeif and Jehane Noujaim’s Rafea: Solar Mama, Dave Grohl’s Sound City and Jehane Noujaim’s The Square.  The double nomination for Noujaim in the category was another first – a director with two films nominated in the same category in the same year.

Winners of the 7th Annual Cinema Eye Honors will be announced at a ceremony in early January 2014 in New York City.  Details about this year’s ceremony, including date, venue and key sponsors, will be announced shortly.  Nominations for the Heterodox Award, for fiction films that use nonfiction elements, and the recipient of this year’s Legacy Award will be announced in the coming weeks.

About the Cinema Eye Honors and the 2014 Awards

The Cinema Eye Honors were founded in 2007 to recognize excellence in artistry and craft in nonfiction filmmaking.  It was the first and remains the only international nonfiction award to recognize the whole creative team, presenting annual craft awards in directing, producing, cinematography, editing, composing and graphic design/animation.

Cinema Eye is headed by a core team that includes Founding Director AJ Schnack (director, Caucus and Kurt Cobain About A Son), Honors Chair Esther Robinson (director, A Walk Into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory; Cinema Eye nominee for Outstanding Debut, 2008), Board Chair Andrea Meditch (executive producer, Buck and Man on Wire), Nominations Committee Chair Charlotte Cook (Head of Programming, Hot Docs Film Festival) and Managing Director Nathan Truesdell (producer, Caucus and We Always Lie to Strangers).  Will Lennon is Cinema Eye’s Program Manager.

Nominees for the Cinema Eye Honors feature awards are determined in voting by the top documentary programmers from throughout the world.  This year’s nominations committee included Charlotte Cook (Hot Docs), David Courier (Sundance), Heather Croall (Sheffield Doc/Fest), Hussain Currimbhoy (Sheffield Doc/Fest), Joanne Feinberg (Ashland Film Festival), Tine Fischer (CPH:DOX), Elena Fortes (Ambulante), Ben Fowlie (Camden International Film Festival), Tom Hall (Sarasota Film Festival), Doug Jones (Los Angeles Film Festival), Jim Kolmar (SXSW), Amir Labaki (It’s All True, Brazil), Grit Lemke (DOK Liepzig), Artur Liebhart (Planete Doc Review), David Nugent (Hamptons Film Festival), Veton Nurkollari (DokuFest Kosovo), Janet Pierson (SXSW), Thom Powers (Toronto International Film Festival, DOC NYC), Rachel Rosen (San Francisco), Charlotte Selb (RIDM Montreal), Sky Sitney (Silverdocs), Genna Terranova (Tribeca), Sadie Tillery (Full Frame) and David Wilson (True/False).

Nominees for the Cinema Eye Honors short film awards were selected by a nominations committee that included Karen Cirillo (True/False), Charlotte Cook (Hot Docs), Hussain Currimbhoy (Sheffield Doc/Fest), Ben Fowlie (Camden International Film Festival), Claudette Godfrey (SXSW), Ted Mott (Full Frame), Veton Nurkollari (DokuFest Kosovo), Rachel Rosen (San Francisco) Sky Sitney (Silverdocs) and Kim Yutani (Sundance).

Nominees for the Television Award were selected by a nominations committee of film critics and writers that included Steve Dollar, Bilge Ebiri, Eric Hynes, Eric Kohn, Nick Pinkerton and Allison Willmore.

The members of the Cinema Eye Filmmaker Advisory Board include Mila Aung-Thwin (producer, Last Train Home; Cinema Eye winner for Outstanding Production, 2011), RJ Cutler (director, The September Issue; Cinema Eye winner for Audience Choice, 2010), Sam Green (director, Utopia in Four Movements; Cinema Eye Nominee for Outstanding Original Score (2011), Steve James (director, The Interrupters, Cinema Eye winner for Outstanding Feature and Direction, 2012), Ellen Kuras (director, The Betrayal; Cinema Eye nominee for Outstanding Debut, 2010), Audrey Marrs (producer, Inside Job; Cinema Eye nominee for Outstanding Production, 2011), James Marsh (director, Man on Wire; Cinema Eye winner for Outstanding Feature, 2009), Laura Poitras (director, The Oath; Cinema Eye winner for Outstanding Direction, 2011), Morgan Spurlock (director, Where in the World is Osama bin Laden; Cinema Eye nominee for Outsanding Graphics, 2009) and Jennifer Venditti (director, Billy the Kid; Cinema Eye winner for Outstanding Debut, 2008).

Sponsors for Cinema Eye 2014 will be announced in the coming weeks.

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking

The Act of Killing

Directed by: Joshua Oppenheimer

Produced by: Signe Byrge Sørensen

After Tiller

Directed by: Martha Shane and Lana Wilson

Produced by: Martha Shane and Lana Wilson

Cutie and the Boxer

Directed by: Zachary Heinzerling

Produced by: Lydia Dean Pilcher, Mark Steele

Leviathan

Directed by: Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Véréna Paravel

Produced by: Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Véréna Paravel

Stories We Tell

Directed by: Sarah Polley

Produced by: Anita Lee

  • Nominees for Outstanding Feature were determined by votes from both our 23-person Nominations Committee and by votes from this year’s eligible filmmakers.  More than 80 filmmakers submitted their choices for their favorite nonfiction features of the year.

  • With his nomination for Leviathan, Lucien Castaing-Taylor becomes the first person in Cinema Eye history to be nominated for Outstanding Feature after previously having been nominated for Outstanding Debut (Sweetgrass, 2011)

  • This year’s nominations mark the first Cinema Eye nominations for everyone else in the category.  Joshua Oppernheimer is also nominated for Director and Audience Choice; Signe Byrge Sørenson is nominated for Production; Martha Shane and Lana Wilson are also nominated for Direction, Production and Debut; Zachary Heinzerling is also nominated for Cinematography, Audience Choice and Debut; Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel are also nominated for Direction, Production and Cinematography; and Sarah Polley is also nominated for Direction and Audience Choice.

  • For the first time in Cinema Eye history, every film nominated for Outstanding Feature was either directed or produced by a woman.  Of the 11 individuals nominated in this category, 7 are women.

  • Previous winners in this category are Manda Bala (Send a Bullet) (2008), Man on Wire (2009), The Cove (2010),  Exit Through the Gift Shop (2011), The Interrupters (2012) and 5 Broken Cameras (2013)

Outstanding Achievement in Direction

The Act of Killing

Directed by Joshua Oppenheimer

After Tiller

Directed by Martha Shane and Lana Wilson

First Cousin Once Removed

Directed by Alan Berliner

Leviathan

Directed by Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Véréna Paravel

The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear

Directed by Tinatin Gurchiani

Stories We Tell

Directed by Sarah Polley

  • This year’s nominations represent the first Cinema Eye nominations for Alan Berliner and Tinatin Gurchiani.  Alan Berliner is also nominated for Editing; Tinatin Gurchiani is also nominated for Debut.

  • For the second year in a row, directing duos are notable in the list of nominees.  In the last 2 years, 5 of 12 nominees have been directing teams.  Prior to last year, only one directing team had ever been nominated for this award: Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher for October Country (2010).

  • Previous winners in this category include Alex Gibney for Taxi to the Dark Side (2008), Ari Folman for Waltz with Bashir (2009), Agnès Varda for The Beaches of Agnès (2010), Laura Poitras for The Oath (2011), Steve James for The Interrupters (2012) and Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady for Detropia.

  • In the past, The Cove (2010), Exit Through the Gift Shop (2011) and 5 Broken Cameras (2013) won in the Outstanding Feature category without being nominated for Outstanding Director.

Outstanding Achievement in Editing

The Act of Killing

Edited by Janus Billeskov Jansen

First Cousin Once Removed

Edited by Alan Berliner

Let the Fire Burn

Edited by Nels Bangerter

Leviathan

Edited by Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Véréna Paravel

Our Nixon

Edited by Francisco Bello

  • Janus Billeskov Jansen is a previous winner in this category.  He won for his work on Burma VJ in 2010.  If he wins again for The Act of Killing, he would join fellow editor Chris King as the only person in Cinema Eye history to win twice in the same category for two different films.

  • Aside from Janus Billeskov Jansen and Lucien Castaing-Taylor, this year’s nominations represent the first Cinema Eye nominations for everyone else in the category.

  • Previous winners in this category include Doug Abel, Jenny Golden and Andy Grieve for Manda Bala (Send a Bullet) (2008), Jinx Godfrey for Man on Wire (2009), Janus Billeskov-Jansen and Thomas Papapetros for Burma VJ (2010), Chris King and Tom Fulford for Exit Through the Gift Shop (2011), Gregers Sall and Chris King for Senna (2012) and T. Woody Richman and Tyler H. Walk for How to Survive a Plague.

  • Last year’s win for How to Survive a Plague marked the first time in Cinema Eye history that the Editing winner was not also nominated for Outstanding Feature.  This year, First Cousin Once Removed, Let the Fire Burn and Our Nixon could all repeat that achievement.

  • If Alan Berliner or Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel were to win, they would become the first winner of the Editing award who were also the director(s) of their film.

Outstanding Achievement in Production

The Act of Killing

Signe Byrge Sørensen

After Tiller

Martha Shane and Lana Wilson

Dirty Wars

Anthony Arnove, Brenda Coughlin and Jeremy Scahill

Expedition to the End of the World

Michael Haslund-Christensen

The Square

Karim Amer

  • This year’s nominations mark the first Cinema Eye nominations for everyone in the category.

  • Previous winners in this category include Seth Kanegis, Tomas Radoor and Mikael Rieks for Ghosts of Cite Soleil (2008), Simon Chinn for Man on Wire (2009), Paula DuPré Pesman and Fisher Stevens for The Cove (2010), Mila Aung-Thwin and Daniel Cross for Last Train Home (2011), Gian-Piero Ringel and Wim Wenders for Pina (2012) and Dimitri Doganis for The Imposter (2013).

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography

12 O’Clock Boys

Cinematography by Lotfy Nathan

Cutie and the Boxer

Cinematography by Zachary Heinzerling

Dirty Wars

Cinematography by Richard Rowley

Elena

Cinematography by Janice D’avila, Will Etchebehere and Miguel Vassy

Expedition to the End of the World

Cinematography by Martin Munch

Leviathan

Cinematography by Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Véréna Paravel

  • For the second year in a row, the majority of nominees in this category were also the directors of their films.  Lotfy Nathan, Zachary Heinzerling, Richard Rowley, Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel all pulled double duty as Directors/Cinematographers.

  • Aside from Lucien Castaing-Taylor, who was nominated in this category in 2011 for Sweetgrass, all of this year’s Cinematography nominees are first-time Cinema Eye nominees.

  • Previous winners in this category include Heloisa Passos for Manda Bala (Send a Bullet) (2008), Peter Zeitlinger for Encounters at the End of the World (2009), Brook Aitken for The Cove (2009), Lixin Fan for Last Train Home (2011), Danfung Dennis for Hell and Back Again and Jeff Orlowski for Chasing Ice.

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Films Made for Television

The Crash Reel

Directed by Lucy Walker

Produced by Julian Cautherley and Lucy Walker

For HBO Documentary Films: Executive Producer Sheila Nevins; Supervising Producer Sara Bernstein

Gideon’s Army

Directed by Dawn Porter

Produced by Dawn Porter and Julie Goldman

For HBO Documentary Films: Executive Producer Sheila Nevins; Senior Producer Nancy Abraham

Homegoings

Directed by Christine Turner

Produced by Christine Turner

For PBS/POV: Executive Producer Simon Kilmurry

Inventing David Geffen

Directed by Susan Lacy

Produced by Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin

For PBS/American Masters: Executive Producer Susan Lacy

Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God

Directed by Alex Gibney

Produced by Alex Gibney, Alexandra Johnes, Jedd Wider, Todd Wider and Kristen Vaurio

For HBO Documentary Films: Executive Producer Sheila Nevins; Supervising Producer Sara Bernstein

Which Way Is the Front Line From Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington

Directed by Sebastian Junger

Produced by Nick Quested and James Brabazon

For HBO Documentary Films: Executive Producer Sheila Nevins; Supervising Producer Sara Bernstein

  • This is the inaugural year for the Television award.

  • Alex Gibney is a previous Cinema Eye winner for Direction (Taxi to the Dark Side, 2008).  He was also nominated for Audience Choice in 2009 (Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson).  This marks his third lifetime nomination for three different films, a Cinema Eye first.

  • Sebastian Junger was previously nominated for Production and Audience Choice for Restrepo, nominations he shared with Tim Hetherington, the subject of his latest film.  Hetherington won Cinema Eye’s short film award for Diary in 2012, nine months after his death in Libya.

  • These are the first nominations for everyone else in the category.  Lucy Walker previously directed Blindsight, which was nominated for Production in 2008.  Julie Goldman produced Buck, which won the Audience Choice Prize in 2012.  Walker is also nominated for Audience Choice.

  • The four nominations for Sheila Nevins and three for Sara Bernstein represent a first for Cinema Eye.  Never before has an individual been nominated more than once in a single category for different films.  In addition to Nevins/Bernstein, director Jehane Noujaim also achieved this feat in the Audience Choice category, nominated for Rafea: Solar Mama and The Square.

Audience Choice Prize

20 Feet From Stardom

Directed by Morgan Neville

The Act of Killing

Directed by Joshua Oppenheimer

Blackfish

Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite

The Crash Reel

Directed by Lucy Walker

Cutie and the Boxer

Directed by Zachary Heinzerling

Muscle Shoals

Directed by Greg ‘Freddy’ Camalier

Rafea: Solar Mama

Directed by Mona Eldaief & Jehane Noujaim

Sound City

Directed by Dave Grohl

The Square

Directed by Jehane Noujaim

Stories We Tell

Directed by Sarah Polley

  • The Audience Choice Prize is a vote that is open to the general public.  In 2013, more than 10,000 people voted for this award.

  • This year’s nominations are the first Cinema Eye nominations for everyone in this category.

  • The two nominations for Jehane Noujaim in this category represent a first for Cinema Eye.  Never before had an individual been nominated more than once in a single category for different films.  Joining Noujaim in this distinction are Sheila Nevins and Sara Bernstein, nominated for four and three awards, respectively, in the Television Award category.

  • Previous winners in this category include The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2008), Up the Yangtze (2009), The September Issue (2010),  Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2011), Buck (2012) and Bully (2013).

Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film

12 O’Clock Boys

Directed by Lotfy Nathan

After Tiller

Directed by Martha Shane and Lana Wilson

Cutie and the Boxer

Directed by Zachary Heinzerling

Let the Fire Burn

Directed by Jason Osder

The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear

Directed by Tinatin Gurchiani

Sofia’s Last Ambulance

Directed by Ilian Metev

  • This year’s nominations represent the first Cinema Eye nominations fo everyone in the category.

  • Previous winners in this category include Jennifer Venditti for Billy the Kid (2008), Yung Chang for Up the Yangtze (2009), Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher for October Country (2010), Jeff Malmberg for Marwencol (2011), Clio Barnard for The Arbor (2012) and Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims for Only the Young (2013).

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score

A Band Called Death

Score by Sam Retzer & Tim Boland

Blackfish

Score by Jeff Beal

Cutie and the Boxer

Score by Yasuaki Shimizu

Expedition to the End of the World

Score by Mads Heldtberg

Narco Cultura

Score by Jeremy Turner

Teenage

Score by Bradford Cox

  • This category was introduced in 2009.

  • Previous winners in this category include Max Richter for Waltz with Bashir (2009), Danny Grody, Donal Mosher, Michael Palmieri and Kenric Taylor for October Country (2010), Norbert Möslang for The Sound of Insects: Record of a Mummy (2011), John Kusiak for Tabloid (2012) and Dial.81 for Detropia (2013).

Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design or Animation

Cutie and the Boxer

Graphics by Art Jail

Far Out Isn’t Far Enough

Graphics by Rick Cikowski & Brandon Dumlao

The Fruit Hunters

Graphics by Brandon Blommaert & Fred Casia

Inequality for All

Graphics by Brian Oakes

Maidentrip

Graphics by Margot Tsakiri-Scanatovits & Daniel Chester

We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks

Graphics by Maryanne Butler & Marc Smith

  • Previous winners in this category include Lewis Kofsky and Richard Winkler for Chicago 10 (2008), Yoni Goodman and David Polonsky for Waltz with Bashir (2009), Bigstar for Food, Inc. and Brett Gaylor & team for RIP: A Remix Manifesto (2010, tie), Juan Cardarelli, Eric M. Levy and Alex Tyson for Gasland (2011), Rob Feng and Jeremy Landman for Tabloid (2012) and Oskar Gullstrand and Arvid Steen for Searching for Sugar Man (2013).

  • Brian Oakes was previous nominated in this category for I.O.U.S.A. (2009). Everyone else in this category is a first time Cinema Eye nominee.

  • We Steal Secrets was directed by Alex Gibney, who is also nominated in the Made for Television category for his film Mea Maxima Culpa.

Spotlight Award

Bending Steel

Directed by Dave Carroll

Fuck for Forest

Directed by Michal Marczak

Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction

Directed by Sophie Huber

The Last Station

Directed by Cristian Soto and Catalina Vergara

The Search for Emak Bakia

Directed by Oskar Algeria

Valentine Road

Directed by Marta Cunningham

  • The Spotlight Award was introduced in 2010.  It intends to honors films that have not yet received proper attention and highlights filmmakers who are early in their career and from whom we’d like to see much more.

  • Michal Marczak was previously nominated for Outstanding Debut for At the Edge of Russia (2012).  For everyone else in the category, this is their first Cinema Eye nominations.

  • Previous winners in this category include Jessica Oreck’s Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo (2010), Andrei Ujica’s The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu (2011), Tatiana Huezo Sánchez’ The Tiniest Place (2012) and Wojciech Staron’s The Argentinian Lesson.

  • Films need not be eligible in other categories to be eligible in this category.  The Nominations Committee submits films for nomination.

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking

Da Vinci

Director: Yuri Ancarani

Death of a Prisoner

Director: Laura Poitras

Outlawed in Pakistan

Director: Habiba Nosheen, Hilke Schellmann

Reindeer

Director: Eva Weber

SLOMO

Director: Josh Izenberg

A Story for the Modlins

Director: Sergio Oksman

  • The award for Nonfiction Short Filmmaking was introduced in 2011.

  • Laura Poitras is a previous Cinema Eye winner for Outstanding Direction for The Oath (2011).  Yuri Ancarani was a previous Cinema Eye nominee in this category for Il Capo (2012) and Sergio Oksman was a finalist in 2011 for Notes on the Other.  This is the first Cinema Eye nominations for everyone else in the category.  Eva Weber had previously made Cinema Eye history as the first filmmaker with two films on the “Shorts List” – 15 short film finalists for this award.  Her other film was Black Out.

  • The previous winners of this award were Vance Malone’s The Poodle Trainer (2011), Tim Hetherington’s Diary (2012) and Robert-Jan Lacombe’s Good Bye Mandima (Kwa Heri Mandima).

Number of nominations by feature film

6

Cutie and the Boxer

5

The Act of Killing

4

After Tiller

Leviathan

3

Expedition to the End of the World

Stories We Tell

2

12 O’Clock Boys

Blackfish

The Crash Reel

Dirty Wars

First Cousin Once Removed

Let the Fire Burn

The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear

The Square

1

20 Feet From Stardom

A Band Called Death

Bending Steel

Elena

Far Out Isn’t Far Enough

First Comes Love

The Fruit Hunters

Fuck for Forest

Gideon’s Army

Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction

Homegoings

Inequality for All

The Last Station

Maidentrip

Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God

Muscle Shoals

Narco Cultura

Our Nixon

Rafea: Solar Mama

The Search for Emak Bakia

Sofia’s Last Ambulance

Sound City

Teenage

Valentine Road

We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks

Which Way is the Front Line From Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

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And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon