Deadline Hollywood - Contenders Film: Documentary - 12/10/23

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D O C U M E N TA R Y DECEMBER 10, 2023 | SPECIAL ISSUE


PODCAST

DOC TALK Hosted by award winning filmmaker John Ridley and Deadline’s Documentary Editor, Matt Carey, Doc Talk features weekly interviews with filmmakers, storytellers, and industry leaders about creating critical content with the power to move the genre forward—and possibly change the world.

Available on Deadline.com and podcast streaming platforms.


D O C U M E N TA R Y

P R E S E N TAT I ON S

APPLE ORIGINAL FILMS

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

Davis Guggenheim (Director/Producer)

Stephen Curry: Underrated

Peter Nicks (Director/Producer)

The Mission

Jesse Moss (Director/Producer)

DOCUMENTARY FILMS

Amanda McBaine (Director/Producer) Bobi Wine: The People's

Bobi Wine (Subject)

President

Barbie Kyagulanyi (Subject) Christopher Sharp (Co-Director/Producer)

AMAZON MGM STUDIOS

Silver Dollar Road

Raoul Peck (Writer/Director/Producer)

SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

They Shot the Piano Player

Fernando Trueba (Writer/Co-Director) Javier Mariscal (Co-Director)

HBO DOCUMENTARY FILMS

Going to Mars: The Nikki

Joe Brewster (Writer/Director/Producer)

Giovanni Project

Michèle Stephenson (Writer/Director/Producer) Tommy Oliver (Producer)

TELEMARK AND GREENWICH

Pianoforte

Jakub Piątek (Director)

The Eternal Memory

Maite Alberdi (Writer/Director/Producer)

ENTERTAINMENT PARAMOUNT+ AND MTV DOCUMENTARY FILMS

SCHEDULE, FILMS & SPEAKERS SUBJECT TO CHANGE


ALL BE ARE O

This year’s race for the documentary Oscar is a wide-open affair BY M AT T H EW CA R EY

By the time December rolls around, a

Choice Documentary Awards, including

their identity for over a century. It’s a

frontrunner has typically emerged in

Best Feature and Best Director.

story of resilience and resistance from

the Oscar race for Best Documentary

Also hailing from Apple Original Films

an idyllic stretch of coastal Carolina. National Geographic Documentary

Feature. Not this year. The contest

is Underrated, the documentary about

remains wide open, more so than

NBA champion and dead-eye 3-point

Films, a perennial Academy Award

in any year in recent memory.

shooter Stephen Curry, directed by

contender, advances two Oscar

For that reason alone, it’s essential

Peter Nicks. Both Still and Underrated,

favorites—Bobi Wine: The People’s

to hear from the leading filmmakers in

in their way, tell stories of undersized

President and The Mission. The latter

the mix. And that’s where Deadline’s

guys with outsized accomplishments—

film, directed by Amanda McBaine and

Contenders: Documentary virtual event

Fox, who was picked on as a kid for

Jesse Moss, tells the shocking story

comes in. We’ve got your essential

his diminutive stature, and Curry, the

of a young American missionary killed

guide to an awards-worthy slate of

6’2” point guard who was told he was

as he attempted to bring Christianity

outstanding documentary films.

too small to make it in the pros.

to a largely uncontacted Indigenous

Among the all-star talent on hand

We will head down Silver Dollar Road

people living on a remote island.

is Oscar winner Davis Guggenheim,

with Oscar-nominated director Raoul

Bobi Wine centers on the titular

director of Apple Original Films’ Still: A

Peck, exploring his film from Amazon

charismatic pop star-turned-politician,

Michael J. Fox Movie, about the beloved

MGM Studios about a compelling African

who dared to run for president of

Hollywood icon. Guggenheim’s film

American family engaged in a struggle

Uganda in a direct challenge to his

recently won five prizes at the Critics’

to keep hold of land that’s been part of

country’s ruthless dictator. Co-director


ETS OFF Christopher Sharp, along with Bobi

won the Grand Jury Prize for U.S.

the world, including the prestigious

Wine and his wife Barbie Kyagulanyi,

Documentary at Sundance. Renowned

Visions du Réel in Nyon, Switzerland.

join Contenders: Documentary to

filmmakers Michèle Stephenson and

discuss their film, which is nominated

Joe Brewster will talk about their

Sony Pictures Classics, uses dazzling

for four awards at the upcoming

innovative exploration of the work

animation—and the voice of actor

Cinema Eye Honors in New York.

and thought of poet Nikki Giovanni,

Jeff Goldblum—to investigate the

a dynamic advocate for Black pride,

fate of an extraordinary Brazilian

Maite Alberdi will take part in a panel

the Black Arts Movement, and civil

musician, Francisco Tenório Júnior,

on The Eternal Memory, from MTV

and human rights since the 1970s.

who disappeared in 1976 while on a

Oscar-nominated Chilean filmmaker

Documentary Films. Her feature,

Music underpins two of the award-

They Shot the Piano Player, from

visit to Argentina for a gig. Directors

winner of the top prize for international

winning films on the Contenders:

Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal

documentary at the Sundance Film

Documentary program. Pianoforte, from

will tell us about a story filled with

Festival, tells the poignant love story of

Telemark and Greenwich Entertainment,

intrigue, emotion and incredible

Augusto Góngora and Paulina Urrutia,

takes us inside the world’s most

music, narrated by Goldblum, who

leaders of Chile’s arts community,

prestigious piano competition, the

himself is a gifted jazz pianist.

whose bond only deepened as

International Chopin Piano Competition,

Augusto faced Alzheimer’s disease.

held every five years in Warsaw. Polish

Contenders: Documentary event,

Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni

director Jakub Piątek’s documentary

a journey through a stunning array

Project, from HBO Documentary Films,

has won prizes at film festivals around

of cinematic achievement. ★

Welcome to Deadline’s


MEET THE MODERATOR The Deadline staffers who’ll be guiding you through Contenders Film: Documentary

YOU R E MCE E JOE UTICHI EXECUTIVE AWARDS EDITOR

Joe oversees Deadline’s awards coverage, including its dedicated print magazine for the Oscar and Emmy seasons, AwardsLine. He also edits Deadline’s special ‘Disruptors’ edition for the Cannes Film Festival and serves as the emcee for its Contenders events. He has been aboard since 2012. Prior to joining, his work regularly appeared in his native U.K.— for outlets including The Sunday Times and The Guardian—and around the world. He has also worked extensively in film and television, producing EPK and production notes and working as a unit publicist. He is a member of BAFTA and has sat on multiple juries for the BAFTA Film Awards.

YOU R MO DE RATO R MATTHEW CAREY DOCUMENTARY EDITOR, AWARDS

Matthew Carey joined Deadline fulltime in 2020, after a long association as a freelancer, to specialize in coverage of the nonfiction film landscape. Matthew is a writer and producer whose work has appeared on CNN, CNN International and CNN en Español. He has written extensively about documentary film for CNN and CNN.com, Documentary magazine, NBCNews.com and TheWrap.


THE FILMS AMAZON MGM STUDIOS Silver Dollar Road Based on Lizzie Presser’s ProPublica article “Kicked Off The Land”, director Raoul Peck follows the Reels family's struggle to save their land. SILVER DOLLAR ROAD

The waterfront property in North Carolina, known as Silver Dollar Road, has been in the Reels family for generations, but the family has been harassed by land developers looking to take their property. APPLE ORIGINAL FILMS Stephen Curry: Underrated From an undersized basketball player to a larger-than-life star, Stephen Curry: Underrated tells the coming-of-age story of the NBA player, directed by Peter Nicks. The film follows Curry's career beginning in 2008 with his NCAA Tournament run at Davidson College through the Golden State Warriors’

STEPHEN CURRY: UNDERRATED

NBA championship run in 2022.


Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

PARAMOUNT+ & MTV

Directed by Davis Guggenheim, this

DOCUMENTARY FILMS

documentary centers on actor Michael

The Eternal Memory

J. Fox as he reflects on what’s kept

Director Maite Alberdi takes a look

him active and fighting decades after

at the toll of Alzheimer’s on Chilean

being diagnosed with Parkinson’s

journalist Augusto Góngora and the

disease. The movie also incorporates

relationship with his wife Paulina

archival and scripted elements to

Urrutia. Paulina has been caring for

recount Fox’s story in his own words.

Augusto for eight years, since his diagnosis, and the pair try to maintain

HBO DOCUMENTARY FILMS

a tenderness and a sense of humor in

Going to Mars: The Nikki

the face of the debilitating disease.

Giovanni Project Narrated by Taraji P. Henson, this film

SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

follows the life of American poet Nikki

They Shot the Piano Player

Giovanni, directed by Joe Brewster

This adult animated documentary

and Michèle Stephenson. As a poet,

drama, directed by Fernando

Giovanni’s work was influenced by the

Trueba and Javier Mariscal, follows

revolutionary historical periods she

a New York music journalist (Jeff

lived through, from the Civil Rights

Goldblum), as he tries to uncover

Movement to Black Lives Matter.

the truth behind the mysterious

STILL: A MICHAEL J. FOX MOVIE

disappearance of young Brazilian NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

piano prodigy Francisco Tenório

DOCUMENTARY FILMS

Júnior. The film also highlights the

Bobi Wine: The People's President

revolutionary artistic freedom and

Moses Bwayo and Christopher Sharp’s

creative expression movement,

documentary follows Ugandan singer-

known as Bossa Nova, in Latin

activist Bobi Wine as he uses his

American history during the ’60s

music to fight against an oppressive

and ’70s, just before the region was

regime led by Yoweri Museveni, who

engulfed by totalitarian regimes.

has led the country for 35 years and

BOBI WINE: THE PEOPLE'S PRESIDENT

changed the constitution in order

TELEMARK & GREENWICH

to have another five-year term.

ENTERTAINMENT Pianoforte

The Mission

This documentary offers a rare

In 2018, John Allen Chau, an American

behind-the-scenes look at one of

evangelical Christian missionary,

the most prestigious classical music

was killed by a group of indigenous

competitions, the International

peoples known as the Sentinelese,

Chopin Piano Competition. Held in

during a several day mission to try

Warsaw, Poland every five years

and introduce the secluded tribe

since 1927, the competition hosts

to Christianity. The film, directed

160 participants that are winnowed

by Amanda McBaine and Jesse

down until only the best 12 pianists

Moss, showcases Chau’s life, death

advance to the final round. Director

and explores the ethics around

Jakub Piątek showcases the highs and

his attempt to Christianize people

lows of a competition that has been a

well known for repelling attempts

career launchpad for some of classical

by outsiders to contact them.

music’s most renowned artists.

THE ETERNAL MEMORY


GOING TO MARS: THE NIKKI GIOVANNI PROJECT

THE MISSION

THEY SHOT THE PIANO PLAYER

PIANOFORTE



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