Tag: Documentary

  • In Toronto, Paul Simon takes a bow with a new career-spanning documentary

    By Associated Press

    TORONTO: After a three-and-a-half-hour documentary on his life, Paul Simon had only sympathy for the audience.

    “You’re probably exhausted,” Simon told the crowd after the premiere of Alex Gibney’s “In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon” on Sunday at the Toronto International Film Festival.

    The 81-year-old Simon, himself, hadn’t watched the film before its debut, and he didn’t watch it Sunday, either. “I’ll get up the courage to see it, no doubt,” he promised.

    The film, which is seeking distribution at TIFF, is an expansive look at Simon’s decades-spanning career, from growing up in Queens, New York, with Art Garfunkel to the success of “Graceland,” the sensational 1986 album he made with South African musicians.

    “In Restless Dreams,” which takes its name from a lyric in “The Sound of Silence” (“In restless dreams I walked alone”), also intimately captures Simon painstakingly assembling his latest album, “Seven Psalms,” which was released in May.

    He began the album, his first in several years, he says, after a dream in 2019 in which he envisioned an album of seven songs. His work at his home studio in Wimberly, Texas, was made more difficult by Simon’s hearing loss in his left ear, throwing off his musical equilibrium.

    “I haven’t accepted it entirely, but I’m beginning to,” Simon told the audience of his hearing loss in a post-screening Q&A.

    Simon reached out to Gibney, the veteran documentarian of “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief” and “Taxi to the Dark Side,” after admiring his 2015 documentary “Sinatra: All or Nothing at All.” Though the cameras took some adjusting to, Simon was content for Gibney to assemble a narrative around his life.

    “Having the truth about me depicted by an observer is very interesting to me,” Simon said. “I think I’m probably not the person to want to describe what the truth is. I’m biased on both sides. I overestimate myself and I dislike myself to a sufficient degree that I’d rather give it to someone else to document.”

    Further, Simon said, he wished some of his earlier recording sessions had been filmed, like those for 1970’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” or “Graceland.” “In Restless Dreams” does include some rare footage, including 16mm dailies from the making of the 1969 documentary “Songs of America” and early rehearsals of “Graceland.”

    After some prodding, Simon acknowledged that he is still making music and recently wrote a new song. Ideas are also still coming to him at night, too.

    “The other night I dreamed again,” Simon said, to applause. “I dreamed it would be a good idea if I wrote a song called ‘It’s What’s His Name.’ ”

    TORONTO: After a three-and-a-half-hour documentary on his life, Paul Simon had only sympathy for the audience.

    “You’re probably exhausted,” Simon told the crowd after the premiere of Alex Gibney’s “In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon” on Sunday at the Toronto International Film Festival.

    The 81-year-old Simon, himself, hadn’t watched the film before its debut, and he didn’t watch it Sunday, either. “I’ll get up the courage to see it, no doubt,” he promised.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    The film, which is seeking distribution at TIFF, is an expansive look at Simon’s decades-spanning career, from growing up in Queens, New York, with Art Garfunkel to the success of “Graceland,” the sensational 1986 album he made with South African musicians.

    “In Restless Dreams,” which takes its name from a lyric in “The Sound of Silence” (“In restless dreams I walked alone”), also intimately captures Simon painstakingly assembling his latest album, “Seven Psalms,” which was released in May.

    He began the album, his first in several years, he says, after a dream in 2019 in which he envisioned an album of seven songs. His work at his home studio in Wimberly, Texas, was made more difficult by Simon’s hearing loss in his left ear, throwing off his musical equilibrium.

    “I haven’t accepted it entirely, but I’m beginning to,” Simon told the audience of his hearing loss in a post-screening Q&A.

    Simon reached out to Gibney, the veteran documentarian of “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief” and “Taxi to the Dark Side,” after admiring his 2015 documentary “Sinatra: All or Nothing at All.” Though the cameras took some adjusting to, Simon was content for Gibney to assemble a narrative around his life.

    “Having the truth about me depicted by an observer is very interesting to me,” Simon said. “I think I’m probably not the person to want to describe what the truth is. I’m biased on both sides. I overestimate myself and I dislike myself to a sufficient degree that I’d rather give it to someone else to document.”

    Further, Simon said, he wished some of his earlier recording sessions had been filmed, like those for 1970’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” or “Graceland.” “In Restless Dreams” does include some rare footage, including 16mm dailies from the making of the 1969 documentary “Songs of America” and early rehearsals of “Graceland.”

    After some prodding, Simon acknowledged that he is still making music and recently wrote a new song. Ideas are also still coming to him at night, too.

    “The other night I dreamed again,” Simon said, to applause. “I dreamed it would be a good idea if I wrote a song called ‘It’s What’s His Name.’ ”

  • Philippine director puts women at the ‘heart’ of drug war film

    By AFP

    MANILA: Widows and mothers are at the “heart” of a gritty documentary by Philippine filmmaker Sheryl Rose Andes, who turns the camera on women left behind by former president Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly drug war.

    More than 6,000 people were killed in police anti-drug raids during Duterte’s six-year term, which ended in June 2022, government data shows.

    Rights groups estimate the real figure was in the tens of thousands, mostly poor men living in slums who died at the hands of law enforcers, hitmen and vigilantes.

    Many of the victims had wives or partners and mothers, who have had to deal with the heartbreak and hardship of losing a loved one and often the family’s main breadwinner.

    In her new documentary “Maria”, Andes follows two of these women, Mary Ann Domingo and Maria Deparine, as they struggle to survive and find justice.

    “We have to register that this thing really happened. And now people need to see what has happened to their families,” Andes told AFP in an interview.

    Andes said she was inspired to make the film out of fear that Filipinos could forget, or never learn, about the brutal period in their nation’s history.

    She got a “huge wake-up call” when one of her students in a filmmaking course she teaches at Mapua University in Manila expressed surprise that the drug war was “really happening”.

    That moment in 2020 — four years into Duterte’s drug war, which made headlines around the world and sparked an international investigation into alleged human rights abuses — left her aghast.

    Three years later, “Maria” is the first full-length documentary to compete in the country’s independent film festival Cinemalaya, which opened August 4.

    “Maria” — a common name for women in the Catholic-majority Philippines — focuses on the harrowing experiences of Domingo and Deparine, which Andes says gives the film “heart and emotion”.

    The documentary shows the women doing menial jobs to support their families and making tearful visits to the tombs of their loved ones.

    “I zoomed in on the details because it should not just be about numbers,” said Andes.

    “This is a story about women. I don’t want this to be remembered as a drug war story.”

    ‘It is very difficult’ 

    Deparine lost two of her sons within days of each other in September 2016. One was with a local drug dealer when they were abducted by unidentified men.

    They were both shot in the head and their bodies dumped under a bridge. Six days later, a second son was arrested by police at the home of a drug-dealing couple. He was later found dead under another bridge.

    Since their deaths, Deparine, who works in a fish cannery and voted for Duterte in 2016, has moved multiple times with her husband and surviving son as they struggle to make enough money to pay the rent.

    In the same month Deparine lost her sons, Domingo’s partner and teenage son were killed in a nighttime police raid while the family slept in their shanty home.

    Later, she and three of her surviving children had to flee for fear of their safety.

    Lawyer Kristina Conti, who is helping Domingo seek justice for their deaths, said the four officers who allegedly shot dead her partner and son had been freed on bail and were back in uniform after serving short suspensions.

    That’s despite the men facing a homicide trial.

    “As a mother who lost her partner, it is very difficult. At times I just wanted to give up, and at times I actually did,” Domingo, 49, told AFP in an interview.

    “This (film) is our chance to show to the world what happened to us.”

    ‘Political stand’

    Catholic priest Flaviano Villanueva, who appears in “Maria”, said widows, mothers and grandmothers endured “unimaginable” hardships to keep their remaining family members alive.

    Villanueva, who runs a support group for the families of the drug war’s dead, said there was a “social stigma” that led to discrimination against those left behind.

    Orphans were “bullied” at school and widows excluded from government assistance because “her husband got killed for being a drug addict”, he told AFP.

    Another woman who features prominently in the film is former Philippines vice president Leni Robredo, a vocal critic of the drug war who is seen consoling Domingo and Deparine.

    Robredo ran in the 2022 presidential election but lost by a huge margin to the son and namesake of the country’s late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who has continued the drug war.

    Andes, who spent a decade working for a non-government organisation before turning her hand to filmmaking, refuses to shy away from difficult subjects.

    She said documentaries were a “powerful tool” in retelling history, but she feared that Filipinos preferred “escapism” and were not prepared to face grim reality.

    Despite Duterte stepping down more than a year ago and Marcos Jr vowing to take the drug war in a new direction, Andes said the killings “never stopped”.

    “A documentary takes a political stand,” she said.

    “We are not fiction and we are not here to titillate.”

    MANILA: Widows and mothers are at the “heart” of a gritty documentary by Philippine filmmaker Sheryl Rose Andes, who turns the camera on women left behind by former president Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly drug war.

    More than 6,000 people were killed in police anti-drug raids during Duterte’s six-year term, which ended in June 2022, government data shows.

    Rights groups estimate the real figure was in the tens of thousands, mostly poor men living in slums who died at the hands of law enforcers, hitmen and vigilantes.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Many of the victims had wives or partners and mothers, who have had to deal with the heartbreak and hardship of losing a loved one and often the family’s main breadwinner.

    In her new documentary “Maria”, Andes follows two of these women, Mary Ann Domingo and Maria Deparine, as they struggle to survive and find justice.

    “We have to register that this thing really happened. And now people need to see what has happened to their families,” Andes told AFP in an interview.

    Andes said she was inspired to make the film out of fear that Filipinos could forget, or never learn, about the brutal period in their nation’s history.

    She got a “huge wake-up call” when one of her students in a filmmaking course she teaches at Mapua University in Manila expressed surprise that the drug war was “really happening”.

    That moment in 2020 — four years into Duterte’s drug war, which made headlines around the world and sparked an international investigation into alleged human rights abuses — left her aghast.

    Three years later, “Maria” is the first full-length documentary to compete in the country’s independent film festival Cinemalaya, which opened August 4.

    “Maria” — a common name for women in the Catholic-majority Philippines — focuses on the harrowing experiences of Domingo and Deparine, which Andes says gives the film “heart and emotion”.

    The documentary shows the women doing menial jobs to support their families and making tearful visits to the tombs of their loved ones.

    “I zoomed in on the details because it should not just be about numbers,” said Andes.

    “This is a story about women. I don’t want this to be remembered as a drug war story.”

    ‘It is very difficult’ 

    Deparine lost two of her sons within days of each other in September 2016. One was with a local drug dealer when they were abducted by unidentified men.

    They were both shot in the head and their bodies dumped under a bridge. Six days later, a second son was arrested by police at the home of a drug-dealing couple. He was later found dead under another bridge.

    Since their deaths, Deparine, who works in a fish cannery and voted for Duterte in 2016, has moved multiple times with her husband and surviving son as they struggle to make enough money to pay the rent.

    In the same month Deparine lost her sons, Domingo’s partner and teenage son were killed in a nighttime police raid while the family slept in their shanty home.

    Later, she and three of her surviving children had to flee for fear of their safety.

    Lawyer Kristina Conti, who is helping Domingo seek justice for their deaths, said the four officers who allegedly shot dead her partner and son had been freed on bail and were back in uniform after serving short suspensions.

    That’s despite the men facing a homicide trial.

    “As a mother who lost her partner, it is very difficult. At times I just wanted to give up, and at times I actually did,” Domingo, 49, told AFP in an interview.

    “This (film) is our chance to show to the world what happened to us.”

    ‘Political stand’

    Catholic priest Flaviano Villanueva, who appears in “Maria”, said widows, mothers and grandmothers endured “unimaginable” hardships to keep their remaining family members alive.

    Villanueva, who runs a support group for the families of the drug war’s dead, said there was a “social stigma” that led to discrimination against those left behind.

    Orphans were “bullied” at school and widows excluded from government assistance because “her husband got killed for being a drug addict”, he told AFP.

    Another woman who features prominently in the film is former Philippines vice president Leni Robredo, a vocal critic of the drug war who is seen consoling Domingo and Deparine.

    Robredo ran in the 2022 presidential election but lost by a huge margin to the son and namesake of the country’s late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who has continued the drug war.

    Andes, who spent a decade working for a non-government organisation before turning her hand to filmmaking, refuses to shy away from difficult subjects.

    She said documentaries were a “powerful tool” in retelling history, but she feared that Filipinos preferred “escapism” and were not prepared to face grim reality.

    Despite Duterte stepping down more than a year ago and Marcos Jr vowing to take the drug war in a new direction, Andes said the killings “never stopped”.

    “A documentary takes a political stand,” she said.

    “We are not fiction and we are not here to titillate.”

  • In ‘Every Body,’ a galvanizing moment — and celebration — for the intersex community

    By Associated Press

    NEW YORK: Like some 260,000 Americans, Sean Saifa Wall was born with significant intersex traits. The sex on the birth certificate was checked “ambiguous” and then crossed out.

    Wall was instead labeled female on the document and, at the age of 13, after his mother was inaccurately warned of a cancerous threat, his testes were removed. Doctors told his parents to raise him as a girl, though Wall later developed masculine features and now identifies as a man.

    “They literally stopped my development — I was starting to develop as male. And they stopped it right there and changed course. It was a hard left,” says Wall. “It was disappointing and almost devastating that what I wanted could never be achieved. I wanted to pass. I wanted to be read as cis.”

    “I had to tap into something else because it was hard being misgendered all the time and people not seeing me the way I saw myself,” Wall adds. “That’s when I was like: I need to really fight back.”

    Wall, co-founder of the Intersex Justice Project, is one of three intersex activists profiled in the new documentary “Every Body,” by “RBG” filmmaker Julie Cohen. The film, which Focus Features will release in 250 nationwide theaters on June 30, shines a warm spotlight on a much-misunderstood community, and three of its most dauntless champions.

    An estimated 1.7% of the U.S. population — or about the same number of red-haired people — have some intersex traits, including genitalia, reproductive organs, chromosomes and/or hormone levels that don’t fit typical definitions for males or females. At a time when gender is an increasingly fraught battleground everywhere from state legislatures to youth sports leagues, those born intersex contradict any strictly binary notion of gender.

    “At the core, people are afraid of uncertainty. The thing that trans people and intersex people represent is that gray space,” says actor and filmmaker River Gallo, another subject of the film. “It’s been six years since I came out. I’m still trying to grapple with what it means to exist in between.”

    “Every Body,” which recently premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, seeks to be a galvanizing moment in the intersex rights movement, a small but growing advocacy for a sizeable segment of LGBTQIA+ people (the “I” stands for intersex).

    Fear of social stigma has often haunted intersex people. But the advocate trio of “Every Body,” gathered for a recent interview in New York, are unashamed, unshakable and forthright about themselves and their experiences — and what they believe needs to change about how intersex children are medically treated.

    Alicia Roth Weigel, a political consultant and human rights commissioner for the city of Austin, Texas, was born with male (XY) chromosomes. As an infant, her gonads were removed, which she considers a castration. Years of hormone treatments followed.

    “I’ve found so much freedom in realizing that there are so many roles for all of us in the world,” Weigel says. “None of us have to be defined by — set gender aside, set sex aside — the rigid notions of what anyone thinks you should be. My whole thing is just: There’s no should. Just be.”

    The United Nations, in a 2013 report on torture, called for an end to “genital-normalizing surgery, involuntary sterilization, unethical experimentation, medical display, ‘reparative therapies’” — procedures which the U.N. said may violate a person’s “right to physical integrity.”

    But such surgeries have continued. A stalled bill in California sought to prohibit surgeries until a child is 12, in order to give them time to develop a gender identity and offer consent themselves. At the same time, several states have advanced anti-trans legislation that bans gender-affirming care for those under 18 or older.

    “What happened to me shouldn’t happen to anyone,” says the 44-year-old Wall, whose co-stars call the “OG” of the movement. “To me, that was the drive, and it’s still the drive. People ask me, ‘How are you doing all this work after all these years?’ And I’m like, ‘First, I’m a Capricorn.’ But I am determined to fight whoever to stop this. I will not stop until justice is upon us.”

    Cohen was first attracted to the subject by the tragic story of David Reimer, a Canadian man who, in an infamous medical experiment overseen by physician Dr. John Money, was raised as a girl for most of his first 14 years of life. Reimer, after speaking out about what happened to him, killed himself in 2004.

    For “Every Body,” Cohen wanted people who were comfortable speaking publicly about their experience. The 33-year-old Weigel, whom Cohen first approached, came out while speaking before the Texas Legislature in 2017 about a then-proposed bill regulating bathroom use for transgender Texans. She has an upcoming book titled “Inverse Cowgirl.”

    Gallo wrote and stars in the the film “Ponyboi,” a film they expect to release later this year or early next. The Los Angeles-based Gallo, who has found Hollywood less liberal than it often presents itself, is accustomed to performing. But it takes courage.

    “I still get really scared every time a camera points at me or I get on a stage,” they say. “I would be better suited to a life that’s smaller. But I know that my experience is one that needs to be shouted from the rooftops because it could save people’s lives.”

    Cohen, wanting to foster intimacy, filmed interviews with only herself in the room each subject. But while there are anguished and heart-wrenching aspects of the documentary, “Every Body” is a inspiring and celebratory testimony. It concludes with dancing.

    “The center of the whole film is just Saifa, Alicia and River telling their own stories and being their own amazing selves,” says Cohen.

    “The intersex rights movement is right in the middle of a lot of national conversations that we’re having right now as some of the country starts to look at gender in a more expansive way,” Cohen says. “But leaving aside the relevance and impact that they might have on trans rights cases and on nonbinary people, intersex people deserve their own lives. They want to be advocated for, too.”

    Even among LGBTQ causes, funding for intersex people is a tiny percentage. In national debates over trans rights, they can be forgotten. A bill passed by House Republicans in April that would bar transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports teams, advocates say, discriminates against intersex kids, too.

    “Every Body,” though, has brought together a dispersed and fledgling movement that’s coalesced largely online. At the Tribeca premiere, many intersex people flocked to the screening and even joined the film team on the red carpet.

    “Great films have always brought people together and we’re already seeing that happen on this one,” says Peter Kujawski, chair of Focus. The film, he added, “represents the best of what we do.”

    For Weigel, Wall and Gallo, the screening was a deeply moving experience and a rare sense of togetherness. Weigel was there with guests, she says, from throughout her life, from elementary school to her professional career in Texas.

    “I felt a little bit vulnerable because I said some stuff that most human beings don’t need to share with the world in the way that we often need to expose ourselves,” Weigel says. “But it also felt very like freeing. Kind of like everyone from my world saw me for the first time.”

    In one scene, Wall visits a Berlin art exhibit that paid tribute to him and others and featured nude photographs. At the sight of Wall’s naked body, the crowd cheered.

    “For Saifa, Alicia and River to see themselves as kind of works of art verses something that’s freakish and to be kept closeted and buried, I think, felt like a big moment,” Cohen says.

    Wall wants the burst of energy prompted by “Every Body” to keep growing.

    “I hope that this film creates a wave of people going, ‘Wait, maybe I’m intersex?’” Wall says. “Given the number of intersex people in the world, it can’t be a handful of people in different countries holding up so many millions of people. We need more people. Whatever they do, just be out. Be like: ‘I’m intersex and that’s OK.’”

     

    NEW YORK: Like some 260,000 Americans, Sean Saifa Wall was born with significant intersex traits. The sex on the birth certificate was checked “ambiguous” and then crossed out.

    Wall was instead labeled female on the document and, at the age of 13, after his mother was inaccurately warned of a cancerous threat, his testes were removed. Doctors told his parents to raise him as a girl, though Wall later developed masculine features and now identifies as a man.

    “They literally stopped my development — I was starting to develop as male. And they stopped it right there and changed course. It was a hard left,” says Wall. “It was disappointing and almost devastating that what I wanted could never be achieved. I wanted to pass. I wanted to be read as cis.”googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    “I had to tap into something else because it was hard being misgendered all the time and people not seeing me the way I saw myself,” Wall adds. “That’s when I was like: I need to really fight back.”

    Wall, co-founder of the Intersex Justice Project, is one of three intersex activists profiled in the new documentary “Every Body,” by “RBG” filmmaker Julie Cohen. The film, which Focus Features will release in 250 nationwide theaters on June 30, shines a warm spotlight on a much-misunderstood community, and three of its most dauntless champions.

    An estimated 1.7% of the U.S. population — or about the same number of red-haired people — have some intersex traits, including genitalia, reproductive organs, chromosomes and/or hormone levels that don’t fit typical definitions for males or females. At a time when gender is an increasingly fraught battleground everywhere from state legislatures to youth sports leagues, those born intersex contradict any strictly binary notion of gender.

    “At the core, people are afraid of uncertainty. The thing that trans people and intersex people represent is that gray space,” says actor and filmmaker River Gallo, another subject of the film. “It’s been six years since I came out. I’m still trying to grapple with what it means to exist in between.”

    “Every Body,” which recently premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, seeks to be a galvanizing moment in the intersex rights movement, a small but growing advocacy for a sizeable segment of LGBTQIA+ people (the “I” stands for intersex).

    Fear of social stigma has often haunted intersex people. But the advocate trio of “Every Body,” gathered for a recent interview in New York, are unashamed, unshakable and forthright about themselves and their experiences — and what they believe needs to change about how intersex children are medically treated.

    Alicia Roth Weigel, a political consultant and human rights commissioner for the city of Austin, Texas, was born with male (XY) chromosomes. As an infant, her gonads were removed, which she considers a castration. Years of hormone treatments followed.

    “I’ve found so much freedom in realizing that there are so many roles for all of us in the world,” Weigel says. “None of us have to be defined by — set gender aside, set sex aside — the rigid notions of what anyone thinks you should be. My whole thing is just: There’s no should. Just be.”

    The United Nations, in a 2013 report on torture, called for an end to “genital-normalizing surgery, involuntary sterilization, unethical experimentation, medical display, ‘reparative therapies’” — procedures which the U.N. said may violate a person’s “right to physical integrity.”

    But such surgeries have continued. A stalled bill in California sought to prohibit surgeries until a child is 12, in order to give them time to develop a gender identity and offer consent themselves. At the same time, several states have advanced anti-trans legislation that bans gender-affirming care for those under 18 or older.

    “What happened to me shouldn’t happen to anyone,” says the 44-year-old Wall, whose co-stars call the “OG” of the movement. “To me, that was the drive, and it’s still the drive. People ask me, ‘How are you doing all this work after all these years?’ And I’m like, ‘First, I’m a Capricorn.’ But I am determined to fight whoever to stop this. I will not stop until justice is upon us.”

    Cohen was first attracted to the subject by the tragic story of David Reimer, a Canadian man who, in an infamous medical experiment overseen by physician Dr. John Money, was raised as a girl for most of his first 14 years of life. Reimer, after speaking out about what happened to him, killed himself in 2004.

    For “Every Body,” Cohen wanted people who were comfortable speaking publicly about their experience. The 33-year-old Weigel, whom Cohen first approached, came out while speaking before the Texas Legislature in 2017 about a then-proposed bill regulating bathroom use for transgender Texans. She has an upcoming book titled “Inverse Cowgirl.”

    Gallo wrote and stars in the the film “Ponyboi,” a film they expect to release later this year or early next. The Los Angeles-based Gallo, who has found Hollywood less liberal than it often presents itself, is accustomed to performing. But it takes courage.

    “I still get really scared every time a camera points at me or I get on a stage,” they say. “I would be better suited to a life that’s smaller. But I know that my experience is one that needs to be shouted from the rooftops because it could save people’s lives.”

    Cohen, wanting to foster intimacy, filmed interviews with only herself in the room each subject. But while there are anguished and heart-wrenching aspects of the documentary, “Every Body” is a inspiring and celebratory testimony. It concludes with dancing.

    “The center of the whole film is just Saifa, Alicia and River telling their own stories and being their own amazing selves,” says Cohen.

    “The intersex rights movement is right in the middle of a lot of national conversations that we’re having right now as some of the country starts to look at gender in a more expansive way,” Cohen says. “But leaving aside the relevance and impact that they might have on trans rights cases and on nonbinary people, intersex people deserve their own lives. They want to be advocated for, too.”

    Even among LGBTQ causes, funding for intersex people is a tiny percentage. In national debates over trans rights, they can be forgotten. A bill passed by House Republicans in April that would bar transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports teams, advocates say, discriminates against intersex kids, too.

    “Every Body,” though, has brought together a dispersed and fledgling movement that’s coalesced largely online. At the Tribeca premiere, many intersex people flocked to the screening and even joined the film team on the red carpet.

    “Great films have always brought people together and we’re already seeing that happen on this one,” says Peter Kujawski, chair of Focus. The film, he added, “represents the best of what we do.”

    For Weigel, Wall and Gallo, the screening was a deeply moving experience and a rare sense of togetherness. Weigel was there with guests, she says, from throughout her life, from elementary school to her professional career in Texas.

    “I felt a little bit vulnerable because I said some stuff that most human beings don’t need to share with the world in the way that we often need to expose ourselves,” Weigel says. “But it also felt very like freeing. Kind of like everyone from my world saw me for the first time.”

    In one scene, Wall visits a Berlin art exhibit that paid tribute to him and others and featured nude photographs. At the sight of Wall’s naked body, the crowd cheered.

    “For Saifa, Alicia and River to see themselves as kind of works of art verses something that’s freakish and to be kept closeted and buried, I think, felt like a big moment,” Cohen says.

    Wall wants the burst of energy prompted by “Every Body” to keep growing.

    “I hope that this film creates a wave of people going, ‘Wait, maybe I’m intersex?’” Wall says. “Given the number of intersex people in the world, it can’t be a handful of people in different countries holding up so many millions of people. We need more people. Whatever they do, just be out. Be like: ‘I’m intersex and that’s OK.’”

     

  • Steve McQueen’s marathon documentary divides Cannes

    By AFP

    CANNES: Eyelids grew heavy and bums numb on Thursday at a four-and-a-half-hour screening of Steve McQueen’s documentary on Amsterdam during World War II, which Cannes critics either adored or suffered through.

    The director of Oscar-winning ‘Twelve Years a Slave,’ tells the story of Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, a city where he now lives without a single shot of archival footage.

    Instead, he films people in their homes and scenes around the city, while a narrator recounts, without emotion, the horrors that took place in that spot when the Netherlands suffered one of the highest rates of Jewish deaths in Europe.

    Much of the documentary, ‘Occupied City’, was filmed during the Covid lockdown, and images of boarded-up stores, an announcement of a curfew, and protests, at times play as a backdrop to the World War II narration.

    The disconnect between the past and the present is purposeful.

    “It’s about living with ghosts and about the past and the present sort of merging,” McQueen told Variety magazine.

    However, the lengthy museum-installation-style documentary had several audience members nodding off. More than two dozen left before the 15-minute intermission, with others not returning for the second half.

    Some critics gushed over the monumental project and its novel approach, with Deadline calling it one of the “great WWII-themed films,” while others slammed it as “numbing.”

    “The film is a trial to sit through, and you feel that from almost the opening moments,” said Variety.

    “It’s more like listening to 150 encyclopedia entries in a row. Who did McQueen think he was making this movie for? If it plays in theatres, it seems all but designed to provoke walk-outs.”

    “Occupied City” is inspired by a book written by McQueen’s historian partner Bianca Stigter:  “Atlas of an Occupied City (Amsterdam 1940-1945).”

    McQueen shot 36 hours of film for the project over three years.

    “It wasn’t a case of wanting to do something long,” McQueen said in an interview with IndieWire. “It was a case of wanting to do something right.”

    “As much as it is about the past, this film is extremely about the present,” McQueen said.

    “Unfortunately, we never seem to learn from the past. Things sort of overtake us,” he said, referring to the rise of the far-right in modern times.

    CANNES: Eyelids grew heavy and bums numb on Thursday at a four-and-a-half-hour screening of Steve McQueen’s documentary on Amsterdam during World War II, which Cannes critics either adored or suffered through.

    The director of Oscar-winning ‘Twelve Years a Slave,’ tells the story of Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, a city where he now lives without a single shot of archival footage.

    Instead, he films people in their homes and scenes around the city, while a narrator recounts, without emotion, the horrors that took place in that spot when the Netherlands suffered one of the highest rates of Jewish deaths in Europe.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Much of the documentary, ‘Occupied City’, was filmed during the Covid lockdown, and images of boarded-up stores, an announcement of a curfew, and protests, at times play as a backdrop to the World War II narration.

    The disconnect between the past and the present is purposeful.

    “It’s about living with ghosts and about the past and the present sort of merging,” McQueen told Variety magazine.

    However, the lengthy museum-installation-style documentary had several audience members nodding off. More than two dozen left before the 15-minute intermission, with others not returning for the second half.

    Some critics gushed over the monumental project and its novel approach, with Deadline calling it one of the “great WWII-themed films,” while others slammed it as “numbing.”

    “The film is a trial to sit through, and you feel that from almost the opening moments,” said Variety.

    “It’s more like listening to 150 encyclopedia entries in a row. Who did McQueen think he was making this movie for? If it plays in theatres, it seems all but designed to provoke walk-outs.”

    “Occupied City” is inspired by a book written by McQueen’s historian partner Bianca Stigter:  “Atlas of an Occupied City (Amsterdam 1940-1945).”

    McQueen shot 36 hours of film for the project over three years.

    “It wasn’t a case of wanting to do something long,” McQueen said in an interview with IndieWire. “It was a case of wanting to do something right.”

    “As much as it is about the past, this film is extremely about the present,” McQueen said.

    “Unfortunately, we never seem to learn from the past. Things sort of overtake us,” he said, referring to the rise of the far-right in modern times.

  • BTS star J-Hope to debut documentary ‘J-Hope In the Box’ on Disney+Hotstar

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Fans of the South Korean band BTS have a chance to get a behind-the-scenes look as its member J-Hope works on his first solo album.

    Disney+Hotstar will stream the documentary “J-Hope In the Box” on February 17.

    The documentary follows the international music sensation every step of the way as he works to release his first-ever solo album – ‘Jack In The Box’.

    Over the course of the documentary, viewers will be given a never-before-seen look at the creative challenges faced during the album’s preparation process, as well as front row seats to J-Hope’s 2022 Lollapalooza performance and the album’s listening party.

    K-drama and K-music fans can already watch ‘BTS: Permission to Dance On Stage – LA”, an exclusive cinematic 4K concert film featuring BTS’ live performance at Los Angeles’ Sofi Stadium in November 2021; and “In The Soop: Friendcation”, an original travel reality show with a star-studded cast including V of BTS, Park Seojun (“Itaewon Class”), Choi Wooshik (“Parasite”), Park Hyungsik (“Soundtrack #1”), and Peakboy as the five friends venture off on a surprise trip.

    MUMBAI: Fans of the South Korean band BTS have a chance to get a behind-the-scenes look as its member J-Hope works on his first solo album.

    Disney+Hotstar will stream the documentary “J-Hope In the Box” on February 17.

    The documentary follows the international music sensation every step of the way as he works to release his first-ever solo album – ‘Jack In The Box’.

    Over the course of the documentary, viewers will be given a never-before-seen look at the creative challenges faced during the album’s preparation process, as well as front row seats to J-Hope’s 2022 Lollapalooza performance and the album’s listening party.

    K-drama and K-music fans can already watch ‘BTS: Permission to Dance On Stage – LA”, an exclusive cinematic 4K concert film featuring BTS’ live performance at Los Angeles’ Sofi Stadium in November 2021; and “In The Soop: Friendcation”, an original travel reality show with a star-studded cast including V of BTS, Park Seojun (“Itaewon Class”), Choi Wooshik (“Parasite”), Park Hyungsik (“Soundtrack #1”), and Peakboy as the five friends venture off on a surprise trip.

  • Marvel’s documentary on Stan Lee to stream on Disney+ in 2023

    By Express News Service

    Marvel Entertainment, on Wednesday, confirmed that the Disney+ documentary on Stan Lee will have a 2023 release while sharing a 25-second clip on social media.

    The announcement was made on the 100th birthday of the late American comic book writer. Stan Lee co-created some of the iconic characters of the Marvel cinematic universe like Spider-Man, X-Men, Iron Man, Black Widow, Hulk, and Black Panther, to name a few. After retiring from Marvel in the 1990s, Stan Lee continued to make cameo appearances in Marvel films and was also given the credits of an executive producer.

    “An Original documentary celebrating the life and legacy of Stan Lee starts streaming in 2023 on Disney Plus. #StanLee100,” Marvel Entertainment tweeted. The video shows glimpses of Stan Lee’s cameo appearances in the films made based on his characters.

    Stan Lee died on November 12, 2018, at the age of 95. Marvel is yet to announce the streaming date of the documentary.

    (This story originally appeared on Cinema Express)

    Marvel Entertainment, on Wednesday, confirmed that the Disney+ documentary on Stan Lee will have a 2023 release while sharing a 25-second clip on social media.

    The announcement was made on the 100th birthday of the late American comic book writer. Stan Lee co-created some of the iconic characters of the Marvel cinematic universe like Spider-Man, X-Men, Iron Man, Black Widow, Hulk, and Black Panther, to name a few. After retiring from Marvel in the 1990s, Stan Lee continued to make cameo appearances in Marvel films and was also given the credits of an executive producer.

    “An Original documentary celebrating the life and legacy of Stan Lee starts streaming in 2023 on Disney Plus. #StanLee100,” Marvel Entertainment tweeted. The video shows glimpses of Stan Lee’s cameo appearances in the films made based on his characters.

    Stan Lee died on November 12, 2018, at the age of 95. Marvel is yet to announce the streaming date of the documentary.

    (This story originally appeared on Cinema Express)

  • UK royals brace as Harry-Meghan documentary hints at racism, promises ‘full truth’

    By Associated Press

    LONDON: Britain’s monarchy braced for more bombshells to be lobbed over the palace gates Thursday as Netflix released the first three episodes of a series that promises to tell the “full truth” about Prince Harry and Meghan’s estrangement from the royal family.

    Promoted with two dramatically edited trailers that hint at racism and a “war against Meghan,” the series “Harry & Meghan” is the couple’s latest effort to tell the world why they walked away from royal life and moved to Southern California almost three years ago. It is expected to expand on criticism of the royal family and British media delivered in a series of interviews over the past 18 months.

    Netflix released the first three hour-long episodes on Thursday, with three more due Dec. 15. The documentary includes video diaries recorded by Meghan and Harry — apparently on their phones — in March 2020, amid the couple’s acrimonious split from the royal family and move to the United States.

    Harry says in the footage that it’s “my duty to uncover the exploitation and bribery” that happens in British media.

    “No one knows the full truth,” Harry adds. “We know the full truth.”

    A title at the beginning of the series says the royal family declined to comment.

    The series comes at a crucial moment for the monarchy as King Charles III tries to show that the institution still has a role to play after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, whose personal popularity dampened criticism of the crown during her 70-year reign. Charles is making the case that the House of Windsor can help unite an increasingly diverse nation by using the early days of his reign to meet with many of the ethnic groups and faiths that make up modern Britain.

    Harry’s 2018 marriage to the former Meghan Markle, a biracial American and onetime actress, was once seen as boosting the royal family’s effort to move into the 21st century, making it more representative of a multicultural nation. But the fairy tale, which began with a star-studded ceremony at Windsor Castle, soon soured amid stories that Meghan was self-centered and bullied her staff.

    ALSO READ | UK’s Sunak urges confrontation of racism amid new royal race row

    Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, stepped back from royal duties and moved to California, alleging racist attacks by Britain’s tabloid media. Harry’s criticism of the media was tinged with anger over the way the press treated his mother, Princess Diana, who died in a car accident in 1997 while being followed by photographers. The couple’s new life in America has been funded by lucrative contracts with Netflix and Spotify.

    Race became a central issue for the monarchy following Harry and Meghan’s interview with American talk show host Oprah Winfrey in March 2021. Meghan alleged that before their first child was born, a member of the royal family commented on how dark the baby’s skin might be.

    Prince William, the heir to the throne and Harry’s older brother, defended the royal family after the interview, telling reporters, “We’re very much not a racist family.”

    But Buckingham Palace faced renewed allegations of racism only last week when a Black advocate for survivors of domestic abuse said a senior member of the royal household interrogated her about her origins during a reception at the palace. Coverage of the issue filled British media, overshadowing William and his wife Kate’s much-anticipated visit to Boston, which the palace had hoped would highlight their environmental credentials.

    Media attention was also diverted by Netflix’s decision to release the first trailer for “Harry & Meghan” in the middle of the trip.

    ALSO READ | Deepika talks mental health on podcast with Meghan Markle

    The streaming giant has promised an “unprecedented and in-depth documentary series” in which Harry and Meghan “share the other side of their high-profile love story.”

    The program will be watched carefully in the U.K., where even the teasers were criticized for offering misleading images to back up the emotive narration alleging misogyny, unfair media treatment and racism.

    In one section of the footage, clips of paparazzi are spliced together with old footage of Princess Diana being followed by the media as Harry says in a voiceover: “The pain and suffering of women marrying into this institution, this feeding frenzy. … I was terrified, I didn’t want history to repeat itself.”

    However, one of the clips used to illustrate his words appears to show reporters and photographers waiting for TV star Katie Price arriving outside Crawley Magistrates Court, Sky News reported.

    The second trailer also includes an indictment of the way palace officials use the press, which Harry described as a “dirty game.″

    “There’s a hierarchy of the family,” Harry says, over an image of the royal family standing on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. “You know, there’s leaking, but there’s also planting of stories.″

    That is followed by a picture of a photographer perched on another balcony as Harry and Meghan walk with their young son Archie down below. While the scene suggests the photographer was covertly snapping pictures of a private moment, the photo actually shows an accredited press photographer who was covering the couple’s meeting with Desmond Tutu in 2019.

    READ HERE | Meghan Markle’s half-sister sues her over 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview

    Whatever the series reveals, palace officials hope to deflect the storm by portraying William and Kate as forward-looking young royals who are tackling difficult issues such as climate change and early childhood education, in contrast to Harry and Meghan, who are described by critics as merely celebrities selling their story to the media.

    The BBC and the Daily Telegraph, one of Britain’s most influential newspapers, picked up on this theme in their coverage of William and Kate’s three-day trip to Boston, where they handed out environmental prizes, met with anti-violence campaigners and went to a basketball game.

    “While Prince Harry and Meghan continued to paint themselves as victims, heads in hands, tearing their hair out at the unfairness of it all, the Prince and Princess were simply getting on with the job,” the Telegraph wrote.

    LONDON: Britain’s monarchy braced for more bombshells to be lobbed over the palace gates Thursday as Netflix released the first three episodes of a series that promises to tell the “full truth” about Prince Harry and Meghan’s estrangement from the royal family.

    Promoted with two dramatically edited trailers that hint at racism and a “war against Meghan,” the series “Harry & Meghan” is the couple’s latest effort to tell the world why they walked away from royal life and moved to Southern California almost three years ago. It is expected to expand on criticism of the royal family and British media delivered in a series of interviews over the past 18 months.

    Netflix released the first three hour-long episodes on Thursday, with three more due Dec. 15. The documentary includes video diaries recorded by Meghan and Harry — apparently on their phones — in March 2020, amid the couple’s acrimonious split from the royal family and move to the United States.

    Harry says in the footage that it’s “my duty to uncover the exploitation and bribery” that happens in British media.

    “No one knows the full truth,” Harry adds. “We know the full truth.”

    A title at the beginning of the series says the royal family declined to comment.

    The series comes at a crucial moment for the monarchy as King Charles III tries to show that the institution still has a role to play after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, whose personal popularity dampened criticism of the crown during her 70-year reign. Charles is making the case that the House of Windsor can help unite an increasingly diverse nation by using the early days of his reign to meet with many of the ethnic groups and faiths that make up modern Britain.

    Harry’s 2018 marriage to the former Meghan Markle, a biracial American and onetime actress, was once seen as boosting the royal family’s effort to move into the 21st century, making it more representative of a multicultural nation. But the fairy tale, which began with a star-studded ceremony at Windsor Castle, soon soured amid stories that Meghan was self-centered and bullied her staff.

    ALSO READ | UK’s Sunak urges confrontation of racism amid new royal race row

    Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, stepped back from royal duties and moved to California, alleging racist attacks by Britain’s tabloid media. Harry’s criticism of the media was tinged with anger over the way the press treated his mother, Princess Diana, who died in a car accident in 1997 while being followed by photographers. The couple’s new life in America has been funded by lucrative contracts with Netflix and Spotify.

    Race became a central issue for the monarchy following Harry and Meghan’s interview with American talk show host Oprah Winfrey in March 2021. Meghan alleged that before their first child was born, a member of the royal family commented on how dark the baby’s skin might be.

    Prince William, the heir to the throne and Harry’s older brother, defended the royal family after the interview, telling reporters, “We’re very much not a racist family.”

    But Buckingham Palace faced renewed allegations of racism only last week when a Black advocate for survivors of domestic abuse said a senior member of the royal household interrogated her about her origins during a reception at the palace. Coverage of the issue filled British media, overshadowing William and his wife Kate’s much-anticipated visit to Boston, which the palace had hoped would highlight their environmental credentials.

    Media attention was also diverted by Netflix’s decision to release the first trailer for “Harry & Meghan” in the middle of the trip.

    ALSO READ | Deepika talks mental health on podcast with Meghan Markle

    The streaming giant has promised an “unprecedented and in-depth documentary series” in which Harry and Meghan “share the other side of their high-profile love story.”

    The program will be watched carefully in the U.K., where even the teasers were criticized for offering misleading images to back up the emotive narration alleging misogyny, unfair media treatment and racism.

    In one section of the footage, clips of paparazzi are spliced together with old footage of Princess Diana being followed by the media as Harry says in a voiceover: “The pain and suffering of women marrying into this institution, this feeding frenzy. … I was terrified, I didn’t want history to repeat itself.”

    However, one of the clips used to illustrate his words appears to show reporters and photographers waiting for TV star Katie Price arriving outside Crawley Magistrates Court, Sky News reported.

    The second trailer also includes an indictment of the way palace officials use the press, which Harry described as a “dirty game.″

    “There’s a hierarchy of the family,” Harry says, over an image of the royal family standing on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. “You know, there’s leaking, but there’s also planting of stories.″

    That is followed by a picture of a photographer perched on another balcony as Harry and Meghan walk with their young son Archie down below. While the scene suggests the photographer was covertly snapping pictures of a private moment, the photo actually shows an accredited press photographer who was covering the couple’s meeting with Desmond Tutu in 2019.

    READ HERE | Meghan Markle’s half-sister sues her over 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview

    Whatever the series reveals, palace officials hope to deflect the storm by portraying William and Kate as forward-looking young royals who are tackling difficult issues such as climate change and early childhood education, in contrast to Harry and Meghan, who are described by critics as merely celebrities selling their story to the media.

    The BBC and the Daily Telegraph, one of Britain’s most influential newspapers, picked up on this theme in their coverage of William and Kate’s three-day trip to Boston, where they handed out environmental prizes, met with anti-violence campaigners and went to a basketball game.

    “While Prince Harry and Meghan continued to paint themselves as victims, heads in hands, tearing their hair out at the unfairness of it all, the Prince and Princess were simply getting on with the job,” the Telegraph wrote.

  • Joe Manganiello joins ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ documentary as co-director 

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: Actor Joe Manganiello is set to co-direct a documentary on the popular tabletop fantasy game ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ with Kyle Newman.

    The film, produced by Multinational conglomerate company Hasbro and entertainment banner eOne, is billed as “the definitive documentary feature about the world’s greatest role-playing game.”

    According to the entertainment website Variety, the makers are planning to release the documentary around the 50th anniversary of the game in 2024.

    Manganiello, who is the official ambassador of ‘Dungeons & Dragons,’ will also serve as a producer on the project along with his brother Nick Manganiello, Anthony Savini and Cecily Tyler.

    ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ was created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

    It was first published by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. in 1974, and has been distributed by Hasbro subsidiary Wizards of the Coast since 1997.

    The game, overseen by a player known as The Dungeon Master, sees others form an adventuring party that will embark on quests through fantasy worlds, in order to take their experience to the next level.

    Till now, more than 50 million fans have interacted with or played the game.

    LOS ANGELES: Actor Joe Manganiello is set to co-direct a documentary on the popular tabletop fantasy game ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ with Kyle Newman.

    The film, produced by Multinational conglomerate company Hasbro and entertainment banner eOne, is billed as “the definitive documentary feature about the world’s greatest role-playing game.”

    According to the entertainment website Variety, the makers are planning to release the documentary around the 50th anniversary of the game in 2024.

    Manganiello, who is the official ambassador of ‘Dungeons & Dragons,’ will also serve as a producer on the project along with his brother Nick Manganiello, Anthony Savini and Cecily Tyler.

    ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ was created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

    It was first published by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. in 1974, and has been distributed by Hasbro subsidiary Wizards of the Coast since 1997.

    The game, overseen by a player known as The Dungeon Master, sees others form an adventuring party that will embark on quests through fantasy worlds, in order to take their experience to the next level.

    Till now, more than 50 million fans have interacted with or played the game.

  • BBC developing documentary on composer Hans Zimmer

    By Express News Service

    BBC is reportedly making a documentary on Academy Award-winning composer Hans Zimmer.

    The prolific composer is known for films like The Lion King, Dune, Pirates of the Caribbean, Gladiator, Rain Man, Black Rain, and The Dark Knight series.

    He has won the Oscars for his work in The Lion King (1995) and Dune (2022). The BBC Two documentary will reportedly be a celebration of the composer’s life and career, which spans across a period of 40 years. 

    Planned with a runtime of 60 minutes, the documentary will be titled Hans Zimmer – Hollywood Rebel.

    Apart from tracing his journey from post-war Germany to the USA, the documentary will also shed light on the creative process and how he finds inspiration for his music. 

    Hans Zimmer has also composed music for nature documentaries like Frozen Planet II, Blue Planet II, and Planet Earth II.

    He is currently composing music for Dune 2, The Son, and Mufasa: The Lion King. The documentary will be directed by Francis Hanly.

    (This story originally appeared on Cinema Express)

    BBC is reportedly making a documentary on Academy Award-winning composer Hans Zimmer.

    The prolific composer is known for films like The Lion King, Dune, Pirates of the Caribbean, Gladiator, Rain Man, Black Rain, and The Dark Knight series.

    He has won the Oscars for his work in The Lion King (1995) and Dune (2022). The BBC Two documentary will reportedly be a celebration of the composer’s life and career, which spans across a period of 40 years. 

    Planned with a runtime of 60 minutes, the documentary will be titled Hans Zimmer – Hollywood Rebel.

    Apart from tracing his journey from post-war Germany to the USA, the documentary will also shed light on the creative process and how he finds inspiration for his music. 

    Hans Zimmer has also composed music for nature documentaries like Frozen Planet II, Blue Planet II, and Planet Earth II.

    He is currently composing music for Dune 2, The Son, and Mufasa: The Lion King. The documentary will be directed by Francis Hanly.

    (This story originally appeared on Cinema Express)

  • Anthony Fauci’s life, work during covid are PBS film’s focus

    By Associated Press

    LOS ANGELES: Dr Anthony Fauci and his tumultuous experience during the covid-19 pandemic are the focus of a PBS “American Masters” documentary.

    The film follows Fauci at home and at work during a 14-month period starting from President Joe Biden’s inauguration in January 2021, PBS announced Wednesday.

    “Tony – A Year in the Life of Dr. Anthony Fauci” is set to debut on the PBS “American Masters” showcase in spring 2023, following a planned release in movie theatres. It will show “a rarely seen side of the scientist, husband, father and public servant,” Paula Kerger, PBS president and CEO, told a TV critics’ meeting.

    Fauci, 81, the government’s top infectious disease expert, said recently that he plans to retire by the end of Biden’s term in January 2025. He has served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984 and advised seven presidents.

    The pandemic represented an unprecedented challenge for Fauci, his work and his reputation despite his years of widely respected public health service. He’s led research on HIV/AIDS, respiratory infections, Ebola, Zika and the coronavirus.

    The film follows Fauci “at home, in his office and in the corridors of power as he battles the ongoing covid-19 pandemic and the political onslaught that upends his life and calls into question” his long career as the nation’s leading public health advocate, according to the announcement.

    Mark Mannucci, who directed the 2019 “American Masters” documentary on the Nobel Prize-winning scientist James Watson, directed and is a producer for the Fauci film.

    LOS ANGELES: Dr Anthony Fauci and his tumultuous experience during the covid-19 pandemic are the focus of a PBS “American Masters” documentary.

    The film follows Fauci at home and at work during a 14-month period starting from President Joe Biden’s inauguration in January 2021, PBS announced Wednesday.

    “Tony – A Year in the Life of Dr. Anthony Fauci” is set to debut on the PBS “American Masters” showcase in spring 2023, following a planned release in movie theatres. It will show “a rarely seen side of the scientist, husband, father and public servant,” Paula Kerger, PBS president and CEO, told a TV critics’ meeting.

    Fauci, 81, the government’s top infectious disease expert, said recently that he plans to retire by the end of Biden’s term in January 2025. He has served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984 and advised seven presidents.

    The pandemic represented an unprecedented challenge for Fauci, his work and his reputation despite his years of widely respected public health service. He’s led research on HIV/AIDS, respiratory infections, Ebola, Zika and the coronavirus.

    The film follows Fauci “at home, in his office and in the corridors of power as he battles the ongoing covid-19 pandemic and the political onslaught that upends his life and calls into question” his long career as the nation’s leading public health advocate, according to the announcement.

    Mark Mannucci, who directed the 2019 “American Masters” documentary on the Nobel Prize-winning scientist James Watson, directed and is a producer for the Fauci film.