Oscar Winner Roger Ross Williams: Spending On Oscar Doc Campaigns Has “Gotten Insane” — CPH:DOX

A Hollywood icon! Goldie Hawn has been a major movie star for decades, known for her bubbly personality and humorous characters.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Ryuichi Sakamoto, the renowned composer and member of the Yellow Magic Orchestra who won an Oscar for the score for “The Last Emperor” and composed the haunting score for “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence,” died Tuesday of cancer at 71.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Amazon MiniTV, a free-of-charge service within the Amazon shopping app and on Fire TV, will next month begin airing short-form teen romance series “Gutar Gu.” The show is produced by Guneet Monga and Sikhya Productions, whose “The Elephant Whisperers” recently won the Oscar for best documentary short. “We at Sikhya are super excited to work with director Saqib Pandor, transforming our well-received short film into its own web series! “Gutar Gu” – a new chapter in the story of Ritu and Anuj, dives deep into the many ups and downs of teenage relationships- navigating strict parents, dating protocols, and the innocence and moments of first love,” said Monga.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Veteran film producer Bob Yari (“Crash”) and music executive turned content maker Marvin Peart have formed WonderHill Studios, a film and production entity that will also offer independent theatrical distribtuion.  Yari and Peat privately raised equity for the new company, for which they will serve as co-founders and co-CEOs. The label will also dabble in film acquisitions and rights sales to foreign territories.  “WonderHill Studios is eager to fill a crucial hole within the theatrical and television space, while also focusing on diversity in cinema and television in front and behind the camera. We are dedicated to building a diverse C-suite, and delivering quality independent films to the theatrical marketplace,” Yari said. 

CPH:DOX, the international nonfiction film festival in Copenhagen, isn’t shy about stating its ambitions.

Michelle Yeoh made history when she became the first Asian woman to win the Best Actress Oscar at the Academy Awards earlier this month. The Malaysian film star told millions of watchers as she held the award for her stunning performance in the highly acclaimed film Everything Everywhere All At Once: "This is a beacon of hope and possibilities."

Motherland, a “dark and monumental” film about neo-nationalism in Belarus, earned the top prize tonight at the prestigious CPH:DOX festival in Copenhagen.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Documentary specialist Autlook Filmsales closed a raft of sales at a vibrant market during the Copenhagen documentary festival CPH:DOX. “Subject,” directed by Camilla Hall and Jennifer Tiexiera, got picked up by Sweden’s SVT, Denmark’s DR, Norway’s NRK, Norway’s VGTV, The Netherlands’ VPRO, Israel’s Yes Doc, and Madman for Australia and New Zealand. Dogwoof released the film early this month in the U.K. “Subject” is an examination of the relationship between nonfiction filmmakers and their subjects. It raises important ethical questions during a golden of age for documentaries, when docs are screened by millions of viewers. The film re-visits protagonists of some of the most viewed documentaries of today – “The Staircase,” “The Square,” “Hoop Dreams,” “The Wolfpack” and “Capturing the Friedmans.”

Lise Pedersen The top Dox:Award at CPH:DOX, the Copenhagen documentary festival, has gone to “Motherland” by Ukrainian-Belarussian director Alexander Mihalkovich (“My Granny From Mars”) and Ukrainian director Hanna Badziaka. Described by Variety as “an ominous portrait of the oppressive culture of cruelty in post-Soviet Belarus,” the film follows Svetlana, whose son died during his military service as the result of violent abuse, in her quest to expose and prosecute those responsible for his death. Dedicating the award to “all the Ukrainians fighting Russian aggression and to Belarussian political prisoners,” the directing duo thanked all those who helped them make the film, in particular the protagonists, “who were brave to stand in front of the camera and patient with us as it was a long journey of four years.”

World class climber Jimmy Chin met his future wife, filmmaker Chai Vasarhelyi, over a mountain – of footage.

Owen Wilson is gearing up for  season 2.ET's Ash Crossan spoke to Wilson at the premiere of his new comedy, -- out April 7 — where he shared his excitement over the show's next season and having Oscar-winner Ke Huy Quan join the cast.«I guess they have kind of a little shot of Tom Hiddleston and I and Jonathan Majors from season two,» Wilson said when asked about the  teaser at the end of. «And I think that's coming out end of the summer or September.»As for what's ahead, Wilson said the show's second season promises to «get very wild,» now that the Kangs have been unleashed.Season 2 will also see even more famous faces, with the addition of Quan to the cast.«I know.

Jessica Kiang In recent years, self-proclaimed Trump svengali Roger Stone has often been compared to DC Comics character the Penguin. Christoffer Guldbrandsen’s “A Storm Foretold,” a wild-ride doc that grants all-areas access to Stone over a three-year period starting with his 2019 indictment and subsequent pardon, suggests this is not strictly fair. For one thing, as the film begins, Stone is smoking the chunkiest cigar you have ever seen, rather than the more canonically acceptable cigarette holder wielded by the cartoon villain. For another, while Stone has more enemies that you can shake a fat stogie at, no single superherohas yet emerged to save Gotham/the United States of America from his brand of preening, gloating arrogance. If he is the Penguin, where the hell is Batman? 

Addie Morfoot Contributor During a talk at Copenhagen’s CPH:DOX on Wednesday, Oscar-winning director Roger Ross Williams spoke about a wide variety of topics, including his latest documentary, “Love to Love You, Donna Summer,” how insanely expensive it is to garner a doc Oscar nomination, and why the racial reckoning that occurred in the nonfiction community after George Floyd’s murder is over. Despite celebrity-driven docs being all the rage, Williams admitted that he usually rejects them. “I have so many celebrities who come to me about making a documentary (about their life),” the helmer told moderator Thom Powers. “It’s never worked out because if they are a living celebrity, who is very popular, they are all about control. It’s a piece of propaganda about their image and their career. It’s not a documentary.”

Peter Werner, Emmy-nominated TV director who won a Best Short Film Oscar in 1977, died suddenly this morning in Wilmington, NC from heart complications following a torn aorta.

Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh's acting roots can be traced back to Manchester, as the city's Metropolitan university has revealed she graduated with a BA in creative arts in 1983.

Addie Morfoot Contributor Don’t expect to see Roger Stone at the CPH:DOX premiere of “A Storm Foretold.” In the documentary, directed by Danish filmmaker Christoffer Guldbrandsen, Stone’s efforts to aid former President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election are captured. “(Roger) has threatened us with a $25 million lawsuit, and he’s called me fat,” says Guldbrandsen. “Right now, we are communicating through our lawyers.” “A Storm Foretold” along with “Praying for Armageddon” and “Victim/Suspect” are three films screening at CPH:DOX that explore America’s political, legal and cultural underbelly.

Everything Everywhere All at Once” — his first major role in 30 years.“Everything is still so fresh in my mind,” he told Variety in an interview published Wednesday. “And that’s why moving forward I’m still really scared.“Even though I just won an Oscar, I’m still really fearful of what tomorrow brings,” he shared.Quan, an immigrant from Vietnam, had his first acting role in the Harrison Ford-starring movie “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” when he was just 12 years old. The next summer, he played Data in the movie “The Goonies” — but that was it.Until now.“I had a conversation with my agent, and I said, ‘I’m so worried that this is only a one-time thing,'” Quan told Variety about his recent successes.

Ke Huy Quan was on a mission. He’d just been named best supporting actor for his performance as Waymond Wang, the goofy husband of a laundromat owner in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” and he wanted to experience the moment with Steven Spielberg. Spielberg, you see, was the filmmaker who cast him in his breakout role in 1984’s “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” when Quan was 12 years old. So during a commercial break in the Academy Awards telecast, Quan, 51, went over to where Spielberg was sitting with his wife, actress Kate Capshaw, whom Quan hadn’t seen since they co-starred in “Temple of Doom” four decades earlier. After hugs all around, Spielberg put his hands on Quan’s shoulders and said, “You are now an Oscar-winning actor.”

Naman Ramachandran Netflix has renewed International Emmy-winning hit Indian series “Delhi Crime” for a third season. The streamer’s India operation has also renewed “Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives,” “Kota Factory,” “Mismatched” and “She” for third seasons. Netflix India has also commissioned a documentary on the life of hip hop artist and rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh who will deep-dive into the reasons behind his sudden disappearance at the peak of his career. The documentary will be directed by Mozez Singh (Disney+ Hotstar series “Human”) and produced by Guneet Monga and Achin Jain‘s Sikhya Entertainment, 2023 Oscar winners for “The Elephant Whisperers.”

After Jamie Lee Curtis won her first Oscar, she contacted her dog walker before anyone else. During an emotional interview on "Today," the 64-year-old actress explained the reason why she reached out to her dog walker first.