Chelsea

Alex Gibney is adapting Michael Pollan’s mind-altering substance book How To Change Your Mind for Netflix.

Gibney is exec producing the four-part docuseries, which is based on The New York Times best-selling author’s book, which looks at what the science of psychedelics teaches people about consciousness, dying, addiction, depression and transcendence.

How To Change Your Mind is presented in four parts, each focused on a different mind-altering substance: LSD, psilocybin, MDMA, and mescaline.

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Nadia Hallgren is an award-winning filmmaker from The Bronx, New York. She directed “Becoming,” the 2020 Netflix feature documentary about former First Lady Michelle Obama. “Becoming” was nominated for four Emmys and Hallgren is the first person in Emmy history to be nominated in both the directing and cinematography categories on the same film. Hallgren’s short films include the Academy Award-shortlisted “After Maria” and “Omnipresence.”

“Civil” is screening at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival, which is taking place June 8-19.

Read full interview here.

Gerry is as radical as he is Zen; he transcends categorisation. One of the most influential surfers and surfboard shapers of all time, Gerry is an entrepreneur, a family man, a movie star and a lifelong yogi who brought surfing to new frontiers. His influence on modern surfing is immeasurable. For the first time, his story is being told in full.

Checkout full article here.

"A key approach was dissecting evident tropes within the genre that could be flipped whilst providing familiar structural elements."

Whilst the film’s core structural elements stayed intact, the story’s warmth and heart certainly propelled exceedingly further than its initial iteration, which became especially evident with the language of the poetry and style of performances. The core idea of journeying from leaving homely comfort and experiencing the world remained at the helm of the film.

Checkout full interview here

Kevin Wilson Jr. wins The Golden shots Award Winner.

Bringing home not only New Director of the Year, Kevin's work “Unboxing” also picked up Gold for Ad of the Year: Charity and “Widen the Screen” received Silver for Ad of the Year: Editing.

Checkout the full list of winners here

The Yin and Yang of Gerry Lopez

SLO Film Fest's Surf Nite, its signature one-of-a-kind surfing film event, will feature Stacy Peralta's The Yin and Yang of Gerry Lopez. The documentary looks at one of surfing's most enigmatic heroes. Famously known as "Mr. Pipeline" for his calm demeanor in the tube, Lopez built his career with aggressive surfing that left behind a trail of blood and tears. As radical as he is Zen, Lopez transcends categorization. His influence on modern surfing is immeasurable and for the first time, his story has been told in full. Presented on Thursday, April 28, at the Sunset Drive-In for the second straight year. Surf Nite will include the traditional appearance of some classic 1960s surfing autos to add to the atmosphere of what could be called the "Rocky Horror Picture Show" for the surfing film lover. The evening will include the iconic cars and live music from the Boomer Surf Band before the feature presentation and the first 100 people to arrive early will receive a custom t-shirt from Cayucos Collective.

See the full lineup here.

“We are thrilled to have Johan and Stacy join the UK roster. They are both legends in their fields and prolific filmmakers,” emphasises Chelsea UK EP Nell Jordan, “Johan has a deep understanding of advertising, making great spots such as Medecin sans Frontieres and Citizen. Stacy’s cult films such as Dogtown & Z Boys, Riding Giants filter through to his commercial work. We think there is lots of space here for them in the UK market, being able to share their work here is very exciting for us.”

Also joining Chelsea for UK representation, Stacy Peralta is a legendary skateboarder and filmmaker who has left an indelible thumbprint on everything he’s embarked on. Younger kids imitate him, he inspires adults, but anyone who works with him inevitably calls him a friend because his warmth and sincerity permeates everything he touches. When he was 19, he became the number one professional skateboarder in the world and revolutionised the sport. When he founded the legendary Bones Brigade skate team he helped launch the career of Tony Hawk, Rodney Mullen, Steve Caballero, and countless others.

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When Pepsi set out to make a documentary in late 2020, the right story was that of the Superbowl Halftime Show. As a brand with a legacy of involvement with entertainment and entertainers and rights to the Superbowl Halftime Show for nearly a decade, telling the story behind the making of the most-watched annual performance in the nation made perfect sense. Unique conditions created by COVID-19 allowed for production to take place and in the fall of 2021, Pepsi's documentary "The Show" premiered on Showtime.

Brand Storytelling 2022: A Sanctioned Event of Sundance Film Festival hosted a conversation with PepsiCo's Head of Content Development Allison Polly, Boardwalk Pictures Founder and President Andrew Fried along with the studio's Head of Brand Storytelling Caitlin McGinty, and "The Show" Director Nadia Hallgren, moderated by Mediabrands Global Chief Content Officer Brendan Gaul. In it, the group discussed how a brand, with an appropriate story to tell and the correct partners, can achieve documentary filmmaking success at the highest level.

Check out the full article and Q&A here.

This year’s Tribeca Film Festival, which runs from June 8 to 19, includes 110 feature films from 150 filmmakers across 40 countries, including 88 world premieres. The festival’s shorts program, meanwhile, includes 43 Academy Award–qualified short films from 25 countries.

The 2022 Tribeca lineup will be available exclusively online for U.S. audiences through the Tribeca at Home platform, and can be viewed from June 9 to 26.

See the full lineup here

The 44th annual Mountainfilm festival has announced its first wave of film titles and festival highlights. Festival-goers can look forward to more than 120 films as the festival takes over Telluride’s majestic box canyon Memorial Day weekend, May 26-30, 2022. The festival will include 31 features and nearly 100 shorts.

Additional featured special guests include author Cheryl Strayed, director Tom Shadyac, Native activist Len Necefer, surf legend Gerry Lopez, career documentary director Stacy Peralta, internationally acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Kishi Bashi, and world-class athletes from The North Face team, including Conrad Anker, Renan Ozturk and Jess Kimura, along with over 200 filmmakers, speakers and special guests.

See the full lineup here