SPRING TIME IN RIO
Spring Films Head of Development, Figs Jackman, and Senior Producer, Ed Dallal, attend Rio 2C - the biggest television and AV market in Latin America - to take part in panels on "International Co-production"... (there were no Mankinis involved).
PRISON
Filmed over six months, the series by Spring Films takes a multi-faceted look at the prison system during a period of significant challenge and reform focusing on the day-to-day lives of prisoners and staff.
Operating at maximum capacity with just over a 1000 male prisoners, Durham Prison is one of the oldest and busiest prisons in the UK. New prisoners arrive daily with complex medical, emotional and health needs, all of which need to be assessed and catered for. With every cell and every bed occupied, every day prison officers are fighting a war against drugs and smuggled mobile phones.
Produced and directed by Paddy Wivell, whose previous work includes Extremely British Muslims, The Tribe and Bedlam, the series promises a rare snapshot of the challenges of life inside a prison.
Commissioning Editor: Nick Mirksy
Producer/Director: Paddy Wivell
Exec Prod: Kathy Myers and Richard Melman
Prod Co: Spring Films
http://www.channel4.com/info/press/news/new-documentary-slate-announced-for-channel-4
Flying Down to Rio
Figs Jackman and Ed Dallal are in Rio de Janeiro at the 2018 Rio Content Market. They are meeting broadcasters, co-producers and presenting on several panels. If you are there too and would like a meeting with them, just email them directly or look for the most crowded bar on the beach (Warning: Potential Mankini Alert!).
Secretaries of State
For Spring's 'Meeting Gorbachev' - directed by Werner Herzog and André Singer, André is in the USA to interview James Baker, former White House Chief of Staff under President Ronald Reagan, and U.S. Secretary of State under President George H. W. Bush. He's then off to San Francisco to interview George Shultz, U.S. Secretary of State under President Reagan. Shultz played an important role in establishing US relations with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and greatly contributed to nuclear arms reduction.
History preps premium doc strand with Herzog, Kopple films
In this weeks Realscreen:
A+E Networks-owned channel History is making a big move into the documentary space via an ambitious doc strand.
The ‘History 100′ (w/t) strand will be comprised of 100 films from acclaimed documentary directors that focus on some of the most compelling historical events of the last century.
Anchoring the front end of the slate will be eight films from such award-winning filmmakers as Barbara Kopple, Daniel Junge, Charles Ferguson and Werner Herzog, as well as celebrated executive producers Jane Root, Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato, Mark Herzog and Christopher G. Cowen.
Films will spotlight such significant stories in American history as the group of pioneers that made up NASA’s first female astronaut training program; former Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who helped bring about the end of the Cold War; the attempted Delta Force mission to end the Iran hostage crisis; and a new perspective on the Watergate story.
“The only way to understand today is to see it in the context of yesterday and History is committed to scouring the past for the most gripping, fascinating stories,” said Eli Lehrer, EVP of programming at History, in a statement. “Our dynamic and diverse array of award-winning storytellers will bring the history of the past 100 years to life through the fresh voices and perspectives in these groundbreaking documentaries.”
A+E Networks holds worldwide distribution rights for all of the programs.
The initial ‘History 100′ documentary programming slate, with descriptions provided by the network, follows below:
Meeting Gorbachev (working title)
Acclaimed director Werner Herzog (pictured) meets Mikhail Gorbachev for a series of exclusive one-on-one interviews with the man who ended the cold war. Using Gorbachev’s personal archives as well as interviews with key political players from the last 30 years, this will be a deeply humanizing portrait of an enigmatic man who’s still viewed as a traitor by many Russians.
Meeting Gorbachev is produced by Spring Films and Werner Herzog Film. Directed by Werner Herzog and André Singer. Produced by Lucki Stipetic and Svetlana Palmer. Richard Melman is the executive producer. Molly Thompson is executive producer for History. Meeting Gorbachev is a History Films production in association with A&E IndieFilms.
http://realscreen.com/2018/03/15/history-preps-premium-doc-strand-history
Spring goes to Princeton
'Where the Wind Blew' will be screened at the Princeton Environmental Film Festival on Sunday the 8th of April. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director André Singer and Andrew C. Weber, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Program.
8th April 2018 7 p.m. at the Friend Center 101, Princeton University
A Mother Brings Her Son To Be Shot at CPH:DOX
A Mother Brings Her Son To Be Shot - a Blinder Films and SOS Productions feature documentary co-produced by Spring Films - is to be screened in competition at Denmark's CPH:DOX on 17th March 2018, followed by a live Q&A.
2018 IWM Short Film Festival
Spring Films is delighted to be taking part again in the 2018 IWM Short Film Festival.
IWM Short Film Festival is a showcase of imaginative and moving films inspired by IWM’s collections and role – to explore the causes, course and consequences of war and conflict, and its impact on people’s lives.
With submissions now open for IWM Short Film Festival 2018 the search is on for the most creative and challenging films responding to past and contemporary conflict. IWM is inviting everyone, including professionals, amateurs and students from across the world, to enter their short films into this prestigious competition.
Films will be judged in two categories Best Documentary and Best Creative Response, with four additional awards for IWM Special Category: Making a New World, Best Student Film, Best Use of IWM Archive and Audience Vote Award. The focus of the Special Category is Making a New World, a new IWM season launching in 2018. This special category encourages creative responses exploring how the First World War has shaped the society we live in today.
New for 2018, filmmakers entering IWM Short Film Festival can use up to five films, five photographs and three audio recordings from IWM archives free of charge.
Deadline for entries is Friday 27 April 2018.
IWM will announce the Festival programme, made up of the most significant and inspirational films, as selected by a panel of expert judges in autumn 2018. The screenings of the shortlisted films will take place at IWM London in October 2018.
For more information about IWM Short Film Festival 2018 and requirements for submissions visit their website.
Award of Excellence
'Where the Wind Blew' has just received an Award of Excellence Special Mention at the Impact Doc Awards
'Andre Singer (UK) – Where the Wind Blew – Emmy and Peabody Award winner Singer delivers a superb account of the Cold War super powers’ forty years of developing nuclear weapons while sacrificing their own citizens in the name of national security. Using archive and testimony, this harrowing story is told through the victims affected by nuclear bomb testing.'
Live at the Apollo
André Singer and Simon Schama discuss André's film Night Will Fall at the Apollo Theatre for Holocaust Memorial Day - organised by JRoots.
© JRoots.org & Blake-Ezra Photography
MASTERCLASS
André is in Hungary this week at the Budapest International Documentary Festival to give a documentary masterclass and a screening of 'Where the Wind Blew' and 'The Act of Killing'.
Get yourself a ticket if you are in Buda or Pest...
Werner Herzog to receive the Coolidge Award
This year, Werner Herzog is being honored in person at the Coolidge for their annual “Coolidge Award.”
The Coolidge Award is a celebration honoring a film artist whose body of work is recognized as consistently original and challenging. The category from which the recipient is chosen rotates to reflect the broad range of film arts championed by the Coolidge Corner Theatre throughout its history.
Past recipients of the Coolidge Award include actors Meryl Streep and Viggo Mortensen, directors Jonathan Demme and Zhang Yimou, cinematographer Vittorio Storaro and editor Thelma Schoonmaker.
The event includes an afternoon screening of a film chosen by the honoree and Werner will be showing INTO THE INFERNO. He will introduce the screening and answer audience questions afterwards.
This will be at the Coolidge Corner Theater on FEBRUARY 8, 2018.