Nonfiction Unlimited, the commercial production company that works with accomplished documentary filmmakers, has signed Abby Fuller, who directs for the award-winning Netflix documentary series Chef’s Table created by David Gelb, another Nonfiction roster director. Fuller is the youngest filmmaker and the only woman on the Netflix Original series. The documentary director got her start producing the Emmy Award-winning series True Life for MTV and since then has directed, produced and edited documentaries for: Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment, Sundance Channel, MTV, Food Network, Travel Channel, Netflix and National Geographic.
“I’m happy that David introduced her to us,” said Loretta Jeneski, executive producer at Nonfiction Unlimited. “She’s insightful and smart and knows how to weave a beautiful story; for example, her Chef’s Table episode about Ana Ros, the Slovenian chef who’s spent 16 years revolutionizing her country’s food. Abby sets the table for Ana in such a way that you not only smell and taste what the great chef is cooking, but you feel and embrace her down-to-earth personality. Abby brings a fresh face and perspective to Nonfiction and we love that.”
Fuller’s feature documentary Do You Dream In Color? examines the injustices in the education system suffered by blind students. It has won awards at festivals across the nation and was screened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. Fuller is currently directing a documentary featuring heroic woman athletes from around the globe. In June 2017 these women will climb Mount Kilimanjaro to set the world record for the highest altitude soccer match ever played in an effort to inspire unprecedented awareness in the fight for gender equality.
With Fuller’s addition, half of the directors at Nonfiction Unlimited are now women. The roster includes Barbara Kopple, Rory Kennedy, Tracy Droz Tragos, Chai Vasarhelyi and Jessica Yu. The 22-year old company is also woman-founded and owned.
“It’s not that I set out to hire women specifically,” said Jeneski. “I was just looking for great directors, and what do you know? Half of them turned out to be women. Interesting what can happen when you aren’t wearing blinders. Great talent is great talent.”
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