Nonfiction Unlimited, a commercial production company with a roster consisting of leading documentary filmmakers, has added the directing team of Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi who last year earned a DGA Award nomination for Meru, a breathtaking documentary about two difficult ascents of the Himalayan peak. Winner of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award, Meru was the highest grossing independent documentary film of that year. Chin, a professional alpinist, filmed much of the documentary while climbing the 1,500-foot-tall Shark’s Fin rock wall, the final section of the 21,850-foot mountain. He first tried to climb atop Meru in 2008, but was turned back by severe weather 100 meters from the summit. Meru chronicles the conquest of the summit on the return expedition in 2011, with fellow climbers Conrad Anker and Renan Ozturk.
As an athlete, director and photographer, Chin has worked with elite adventurers in some of the most dangerous and challenging locations in the world including several ascents of Mount Everest. He has directed extreme adventure work for Chase Bank, Pirelli and The North Face, among others. For Chase, Chin both starred in and directed a close-up view of a photographer climbing the treacherous peaks of the Bugaboos to capture the perfect shot. For Pirelli, he filmed skiers in a dramatic high-speed ski sequence that ends in an unexpected BASE jump, seen from the perspective of inside a car, also falling through the air.
Vasarhelyi is a prolific award-winning documentary director whose work includes an episode of Netflix’s Abstract: The Art of Design, a profile of Ralph Gilles, head automotive designer for Fiat Chrysler. No stranger to dangerous projects herself, Vasarhelyi spent years in Senegal filming Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love, about the Senegalese icon and musician, and Incorruptible chronicling the tense 2012 Senegal elections. The film won a 2016 Independent Spirit Award. Her work also includes Climbing the Shark’s Fin, a New York Times Op Doc.
“Jimmy is one of the most accomplished adventure sports filmmakers and photographers working today,” said Loretta Jeneski, executive producer at Nonfiction Unlimited. “He has incredible cinematic flare and has specialized in directing logistically complicated shoots. Chai has been winning documentary awards since she was twenty-three. She’s all about revealing the humanity in every story. They are both a force of nature and we’re thrilled they’ve joined us at Nonfiction for advertising projects.”
Review: Director Ben Taylor’s “Joy”
Toward the end of Netflix's "Joy," the muffled cry of a newborn baby prompts a man and woman in a hospital to embrace out of pure bliss. They aren't the parents, but they had as much to do with the birth as the mom and dad.
This charming and winning movie charts the decade-long true story of how the world's first IVF baby was born in England in 1978 — a 5-pound, 12-ounce girl who paved the way for millions more. It's an upbeat, very English affair, mixing sober discussion of endometriosis with chocolate biscuits.
The couple embracing that day were pioneering scientist Robert Edwards and Jean Purdy, a young nurse and embryologist. Together with surgeon Patrick Steptoe, the trio succeeded with in vitro fertilization, a method of treating infertility. Edwards would go on to win the Nobel Prize.
"Joy" has been birthed at a time when science is under threat in America — even IVF — so it's downright inspiring to see plucky, smart scientists working hard to change the world. "What we're doing, it matters," says Steptoe, played with quiet economy by Bill Nighy.
"Joy" is the personal stories of the three scientists — mostly through the eyes of Purdy, a polite lab-coated warrior. "If I hear a commotion, I'm not very good at staying out of it," she says. Perfectly played by Thomasin McKenzie, Purdy is both vulnerable and strong, learning through the process to be a better human. James Norton plays Edwards with charm, self-doubt and calm spirit.
Jack Thorne's script nicely explains the massive pressure the trio faced. IVF may have become common and uncontroversial over the last decades, but back in the late '70s it was experimental and shunned. The Anglican church called it a sin, the newspapers labeled it Frankenstein-ish and other... Read More