Features
What’s Up Doc? Hao Wu, Khalik Allah & Jenny Murray Top March Must See Doc List
The year has already picked up significantly since Sundance, as eyes turn to this past weekend’s True/False, SXSW, and Tribeca Film Festivals. Taking the new top spot of impending documentary releases is Hao Wu’s People’s Republic of Desire, where virtual relationships are slowly replacing actual human connections, and no country has been taken it to such an extreme as China. Produced by Wu with assistance from the Sundance Documentary Edit & Story Lab, it is slated for a SXSW premiere.
Jenny Murray will have her feature film debut with ¡Las Sandinistas!, tracing the history and incomparable efforts of a band of Nicaraguan women during 1979’s Sandinista Revolution to the modern day, leading the country’s contemporary equality movements. Produced by Murray and Sarah Winshall with support from the Independent Television Service, the Independent Filmmaker Project, and Kickstarter.
Festival darling Sasha Waters Freyer (Chekhov for Children) is set to premiere Garry Winogrand: All Things are Photographable, the first feature documentary on the life and work of the titular photographer, who came to personify and transform three successive decades in American history. Produced by Freyer as Pieshake Pictures with financial support through Kickstarter, and co-produced and distributed by Submarine.
Jeremy Workman traces the steps and interactions of Matt Green in The World Before Your Feet, walking more than 8,000 miles through every block in New York City on an inexplicable journey laiden with unexpected personal discovery. Produced by Workman and executive produced by Jesse Eisenberg.
Other titles that are in our sights include Morgan Neville’s (Won’t You Be My Neighbor?) highly anticipated They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead, examining Orson Welles’ unfinished final film, The Other Side of the Wind. Produced for Netflix by Korelan Matteson, Morgan Neville and Filip Jan Rymsza. Adam Bhala Lough explores the contemporary conflict between Antifa activists and the Alternative Right movement in Alt-Right: Age of Rage. Produced by Alex Needles and Greg Stewart through Alldayeveryday. Tony Zierra brings us Filmworker, a docu-portrait of actor-turned-assistant Leon Vitali’s relationship with film juggernaut Stanley Kubrick, highlighting the murky ins-and-outs of the creative process specifically for Eyes Wide Shut. Produced by Elizabeth Yoffe.
If you are a filmmaker or producer on any of the projects listed below that needs updating, I can be reached at matt [at] ioncinema dot com. Here is our most anticipated Top 100 docs in the pipeline.
# |
Film Title |
Filmmaker(s) |
Status |
Last Month’s Ranking |
1 |
People’s Republic of Desire |
Hao Wu |
SXSW Premiere |
⬆#50 |
2 |
Black Mother |
Khalik Allah |
True/False Premiere |
⬆#11 |
3 |
¡Las Sandinistas! |
Jenny Murray |
SXSW Premiere |
⭑ New! |
4 |
Garry Winogrand: All Things are Photographable |
Sasha Waters Freyer |
SXSW Premiere |
⭑ New! |
5 |
The World Before Your Feet |
Jeremy Workman |
SXSW Premiere |
⭑ New! |
6 |
Chi-Town |
Nick Budabin |
SXSW Premiere |
⭑ New! |
7 |
The Gospel of Eureka |
Michael Palmieri, Donal Mosher |
SXSW Premiere |
⭑ New! |
8 |
Take Your Pills |
Alison Klayman |
SXSW Premiere |
⭑ New! |
9 |
TransMilitary |
Gabriel Silverman, Fiona Dawson |
SXSW Premiere |
⭑ New! |
10 |
Love, Gilda |
Lisa D’Apolito |
Tribeca Preem |
⭑ New! |
11 |
They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead |
Morgan Neville |
Post Production |
⭑ New! |
12 |
Weed The People |
Abby Epstein |
SXSW Premiere |
⭑ New! |
13 |
Alt-Right |
Adam Bhala Lough |
SXSW Premiere |
⬆#61 |
14 |
This One’s For The Ladies |
Gene Graham |
SXSW Premiere |
⭑ New! |
15 |
Social Animals |
Jonathan Ignatius Green |
SXSW Premiere |
⭑ New! |
16 |
Between Two Worlds |
Janus Metz |
Post-Production |
⬆#29 |
17 |
The Bill Murray Stories |
Tommy Avallone |
SXSW Premiere |
⭑ New! |
18 |
The Man Who Stole Banksy |
Marco Proserpio |
Completed |
⬆#42 |
19 |
Charm City |
Marilyn Ness |
Post-Production |
⬆#47 |
20 |
Impeachment |
Petra Costa |
Post-Production |
⬆#48 |
21 |
Daughters of the Sexual Revolution |
Dana Adam Shapiro |
SXSW Premiere |
⭑ New! |
22 |
The Infiltrators |
Cristina Ibarra, Alex Rivera |
Post-Production |
⬆#49 |
23 |
They Fight |
Andrew Renzi |
Completed |
⬆#54 |
24 |
SK13 |
Tony Zierra |
Post-Production |
⬆#57 |
25 |
DeLorean |
Don Argott, Sheena M. Joyce |
Post-Production |
⬆#58 |
26 |
Getting Over |
Jason Charnick |
SXSW Premiere |
⭑ New! |
27 |
Pandas |
David Douglas, Drew Fellman |
Post-Production |
⭑ New! |
28 |
Operation Odessa |
Tiller Russell |
SXSW Premiere |
⭑ New! |
29 |
Nossa Chape |
Jeff Zimbalist, Michael Zimbalist |
SXSW Premiere |
⭑ New! |
30 |
Zappa |
Alex Winter |
Filming |
⭑ New! |
31 |
Mudflow |
Cynthia Wade, Sasha Friedlander |
Completed |
⬆#73 |
32 |
Untitled WWI Project |
Peter Jackson |
Post-Production |
⭑ New! |
33 |
Fahrenheit 11/9 |
Michael Moore |
Filming |
⬆#51 |
34 |
Deadpan |
Kirsten Johnson |
Filming |
⬆#52 |
35 |
It’s a Hard Truth, Ain’t It |
Madeleine Sackler |
Post-Production |
⭑ New! |
36 |
The Blue Wall |
Richard Rowley |
Filming |
⬆#53 |
37 |
Born in China |
Nanfu Wang, Lynn Zhang |
Filming |
⬆#55 |
38 |
Billie |
James Erskine |
In Development |
⭑ New! |
39 |
The Pervert’s Guide To XXIst Century |
Sophie Fiennes |
Unknown |
⬆#56 |
40 |
Epicentro |
Hubert Sauper |
Filming |
⬆#59 |
41 |
Weinstein |
Ursula MacFarlane |
In Development |
⬆#60 |
42 |
Untitled Apollo Theater Doc |
Roger Ross Williams |
Filming |
⭑ New! |
43 |
Nordic Trips |
Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard |
Unknown |
⬆#62 |
44 |
Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets |
Bill Ross, Turner Ross |
In Development |
⬆#63 |
45 |
Nobody in This World is Better Than Us |
Roberto Minervini |
Post-Production |
⬆#64 |
46 |
Oh Moscow |
Sally Potter |
Unknown |
⬆#65 |
47 |
I Walk |
Jørgen Leth |
Unknown |
⭑ New! |
48 |
Freedom Fields |
Naziha Arebi |
Post-Production |
⬆#76 |
49 |
Warrior Women |
Christina D. King, Elizabeth Castle |
Post-Production |
⬆#77 |
50 |
Prophets of Rage |
Karim Amer |
Unknown |
⬆#67 |
Legend:
⭑ New to Chart
⬄ No Change
⬆ Position Increase
⬇ Position Drop
Production
# |
Film Title |
Filmmaker(s) |
Status |
Last Month’s Ranking |
51 |
Ingmar Bergman – Legacy of a Defining Genius |
Margarethe von Trotta, Felix Moeller |
Filming |
⬆#68 |
52 |
Nocturne |
Gianfranco Rosi |
Filming |
⭑ New! |
53 |
Muhammad Ali |
Ken Burns |
Filming |
⭑ New! |
54 |
The Acali Experiment |
Marcus Lindeen |
Unknown |
⬆#70 |
55 |
Aleph |
Iva Radivojevic |
Filming |
⭑ New! |
56 |
El Gran Fellove |
Matt Dillon |
Completed |
⭑ New! |
57 |
Shannon Hoon |
Danny Clinch |
Post-Production |
⭑ New! |
58 |
Blackout |
Alexander Porter, James George, Yasmin Elayat |
Filming |
⬆#72 |
59 |
Always in Season |
Jacqueline Olive |
Filming |
⬆#74 |
60 |
Facing the Dragon |
Sedika Mojadidi |
Filming |
⬆#75 |
61 |
Pope Francis: A Man of His Word |
Wim Wenders |
Completed |
⬆#78 |
62 |
Untitled Religious Activism Documentary |
Penny Lane |
Filming |
⬆#79 |
63 |
Stray |
Elizabeth Lo |
Filming |
⬆#80 |
64 |
Taste of Sky |
Michael Lei |
Completed |
⬆#82 |
65 |
Forgiveness |
Elizabeth Stopford |
Filming |
⬆#83 |
66 |
United Skates |
Dyana Winkler, Tina Brown |
Post-Production |
⬆#84 |
67 |
Untitled Jennifer Laude Project |
PJ Raval |
Post-Production |
⬆#85 |
68 |
United Nations – The End of the Beginning |
Lea Glob, Andreas Koefoed |
In Development |
⬆#86 |
69 |
Untitled Agnes Varda Doc |
Agnes Varda |
Filming |
⭑ New! |
70 |
The Second Israel |
Michale Boganim |
In Development |
⬆#87 |
71 |
The Island |
Anca Damian |
Unknown |
⬆#88 |
72 |
The Scar |
Noor Afshan Mirza, Brad Butler |
Complete |
⬆#89 |
73 |
Cain, Abel & The Cowgirl |
Dina Amer |
Unknown |
⬆#90 |
74 |
Maradona |
Asif Kapadia |
Filming |
⬆91 |
75 |
Staring Through the Glass |
Seamus Murphy |
Production |
⬆#92 |
76 |
La Société de Spectacle |
Göran Hugo Olsson, Sophie Vuković |
Unknown |
⬆#93 |
77 |
I Die |
Erik Poppe |
Unknown |
⬆#94 |
78 |
Hello Ladies |
Deborah Stratman |
Unknown |
⬆#95 |
79 |
XY Chelsea |
Tim Travers Hawkins |
Filming |
⬆#96 |
80 |
Untitled Marion Stokes Project |
Matt Wolf |
Post-Production |
⬆#97 |
81 |
Golden Dawn Girls |
Havard Bustnes |
Complete |
⭑ New! |
82 |
Untitled Hollywood Sexual Assault Project |
Kirby Dick, Amy Ziering |
Filming |
⬆#99 |
83 |
Untitled Velvet Underground Project |
Todd Haynes |
Filming |
⭑ New! |
84 |
A Comedian In A Syrian Tragedy |
Rami Farah |
Post-Production |
⬆#100 |
85 |
Phantom Cowboys |
Daniel Patrick Carbone |
Post-Production |
⭑ New! |
86 |
Untitled Whitney Houston Documentary |
Kevin MacDonald |
Filming |
⭑ New! |
87 |
Diamond, Silver & Gold |
Jason Kohn |
Filming |
⭑ New! |
88 |
The Hottest August |
Brett Story |
Post-Production |
⭑ New! |
89 |
Untitled Syrian Families Film |
Megan Mylan |
Filming |
⭑ New! |
90 |
Untitled TMAC Documentary Project |
Ellen Kuras |
In Development |
⭑ New! |
91 |
Untitled Edward Munch Doc |
Joachim Trier |
Filming |
⭑ New! |
92 |
Enemies of the State |
Sonia Kennebeck |
In Development |
⭑ New! |
93 |
The Feeling of Being Watched |
Assia Boundaoui |
Filming |
⭑ New! |
94 |
Hazing |
Byron Hurt |
In Development |
⭑ New! |
95 |
Louisiana Justice |
Tom Casciato |
In Development |
⭑ New! |
96 |
Made in Boise |
Beth Aala |
Filming |
⭑ New! |
97 |
Netizens |
Cynthia Lowen |
Filming |
⭑ New! |
98 |
Slaves Among Us |
Daffodil Altan, Andrés Cediel |
Filming |
⭑ New! |
99 |
Magnitsky, Act II |
Andrei Nekrasov |
Filming |
⭑ New! |
100 |
Goodbye, Fat Larry |
Alix Lambert |
Filming |
⭑ New! |
⭑ New to Chart
⬄ No Change
⬆ Position Increase
⬇ Position Drop