20 Feet From Stardom
20 Feet From Stardom
Backup singers live in a world that lies just beyond the spotlight. Their voices bring harmony to the biggest bands in popular music, but we've had no idea who these singers are or what lives they lead, until now.
Critic reviews
‘20 Feet from Stardom, this year's Oscar-winner for Best Documentary, is both rousing, upbeat fare… and a film steeped in a strange sense of yearning and regret.’Independent (UK)
‘Such a great idea for a documentary, and such a surprise to realise that it has never been done before.’ Guardian
‘The parade of incredible women, the stream of songs you won't believe they sang on, and those irresistible voices belting out keep the rhythm going through the schmaltz, even if the conductor seems to have dropped his hymn book.’ CineVue
Awards
Academy Awards, USA 2014 Winner of the Oscar for Best Documentary, Features.
Australian Film Critics Association Awards 2018 Winner of the AFCA Award for Best International Film (English Language)
American Cinema Editors, USA 2014 Winner of the Eddie for Best Edited Documentary - Feature.
Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival 2013 Winner of the Music Documentary Audience Award for Morgan Neville.
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Critic Reviews
‘A sad, involving story.’ The Guardian ‘Martin has bestowed cinematic order on mayhem-fuelled lives.’ Little White Lies ‘All This Mayhem captivates not only in its energetic style of storytelling, but also thanks to the charisma that exudes from the mouth of Tas as he honesty tells his side of this doomed Shakespearean tale.’ CineVue ‘Candid and clear-eyed, this doc will wow boarding fans but has something to offer to the unconverted too.’ Empire MagazineAwards
Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards, winner of the best direction in a documentary, best editing in a documentary, best original music score in a documentary.Eden uses 1990s club culture as the appropriately intoxicating backdrop for a sensitive, low-key look at aging and the price of pursuing one's dreams.
Eden is a 2014 French drama film directed by Mia Hansen-Løve and co-written with Sven Hansen-Løve. The film stars Félix de Givry and Pauline Etienne. The film premiered in the Special Presentations section of the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. It was also screened in the 52nd edition of the New York Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival.
The film is an affecting trip into the electronic dance movement in Paris whose rhythms echo its textures and feeling. Based on the experiences of Hansen-Løve's brother Sven, the film follows Paul, a teenager in the underground scene of early-nineties Paris. Rave parties dominate that culture, but he's drawn to the more soulful rhythms of Chicago's garage house. He forms a DJ collective named Cheers, and together he and his friends plunge into the ephemeral nightlife of sex, drugs, and endless music.
Critic Reviews
'Rambling, talky and luxuriantly wistful, the film gives a perceptive survey of the self-importance and decadence of a youth movement.' Times UK
'A remarkable film which drums to its own beat.' Little White Lies
'Partly the story of a music scene, but mostly the story of a man who realises that living the dream isn't always the best thing for your life. Vivid, immersive and blessed with a perfectly nostalgic soundtrack.' Empire Magazine
'Eden, in its loose and free-form way, is as personal a statement as this 34-year-old director has yet made: it's telling that Paul is that age by the end of it.' Daily Telegraph UK
'Absorbing and very moving.' The Guardian
Critic Reviews
‘Your sympathy and judgment coexist, no matter how wince-inducing it gets with each turbulent turn. Context is everything here.’ Los Angeles Times ‘For the most part the film chronicles the complex tale cogently and effectively, using extensive archival footage as well as contemporary interviews that help put the events in context.’ Hollywood Reporter ‘We see the resilience of the adult Elián when he takes a swim near a Cuban beach: After all he's endured, he's not afraid of the water.’ Village VoiceAwards
Montclair Film Festival (MFF) 2017, winner of the Junior Jury awardCritic Reviews
‘Don't watch this film and expect an authoritative critical analysis of the film; watch it and explore the distorting, drug-like pull that some art can exert on its audience.’ Times (UK)Awards
Austin Fantastic Fest Winner Jury Prize for Best Film & Best Director International Documentary Association Winner Creative Recognition Award for Best EditingProject Nim was released to critical acclaim. The film has won 15 and was nominated for 27 awards, including Best Documentary at the 65th British Academy Film Awards.
Project Nim is a 2011 British documentary film. It focuses on Project Nim, a research project that was mounted in the 1970s to determine whether a primate raised in close contact with humans could develop a limited "language" based on American Sign Language.
Equal parts hilarious, poignant, and heartbreaking, Project Nim not only tells a compelling story masterfully, but also raises the flag on the darker side of human nature.
Critics Review
'This haunting life story is an exquisite example of non-fiction filmmaking as full-bodied, emotionally complex drama.' Hollywood Reporter
'The release of this documentary by James Marsh in the same week as Rise of the Planet of the Apes is wittily timed. It too speaks of caged primates, though its judgement on their captors is far more disturbing.' Independent UK
'Marsh, who made the multi-awarded Man on a Wire, takes no sides but lets the humans speak for themselves, rum lot that they are.' London Evening Standard
'A harrowing and intensely powerful tale of an animal who was perhaps more human than the actual humans around him.' From the Front Row
Awards
Awards Circuit Community Awards 2011
Winner of theACCA award for Best Documentary Feature
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards 2011
Winner of theBSFC Award for Best Documentary - James Marsh
Directors Guild of America, USA 2012
Winner of theDGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary - James Marsh
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards 2011
Winner of the FFCC Award for Best Documentary
San Diego Film Critics Society Awards 2011
Winner of the SDFCS Award for Best Documentary
Winner of three prime-time Emmy’s, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God is a 2012 documentary film directed by Oscar winning Alex Gibney. The film details the first known protest against clerical sex abuse in the United States by four deaf men.
Alex Gibney examines the abuse of power in the Catholic Church through the story of four courageous deaf men, who in the first known case of public protest, set out to expose the priest who abused them. Through their case the film follows a cover-up that winds its way from the row houses of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, through the bare ruined choirs of Ireland's churches, all the way to the highest office of the Vatican.
Critic Reviews
‘A kind of unintentional leaving gift for the outgoing Pope Benedict, though it is not one he is likely to relish.’ Guardian
‘The case has been widely reported but this is still an important film, laying out who knew what, and when. It's chilling: the conspiracy of silence goes all the way to the Vatican.’ Time Out
‘In the end, decades of such crimes going undetected and undeterred under the aegis of one employer - any employer - speaks for itself. And the extraordinary perseverance and courage of the men from St. John's speaks louder still.’ New York Post
‘There is something to be said for a clear and unblinking recitation of facts, and thankfully Mr. Gibney does a lot of that.’ New York Times
Awards
Primetime Emmy Awards 2013, Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking, Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming, Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming.
Irish Film and Television Awards 2013, winner of Best Feature Documentary
London Film Festival 2012, winner of the Grierson Award
The Television Academy Honors 2014, winner of the Television Academy Honors