"Amy," "The Hunting Ground," "The Look of Silence," "Meru," "Something Better To Come" in running for PGA honor
The Producers Guild of America (PGA) has announced its Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures nominees that will advance in the voting process for the 27th Annual Producers Guild Awards. All other category nominations and names of eligible producers for the Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures will be announced on January 5, 2016. All 2016 Producers Guild Award winners will be presented on Saturday, January 23, 2016 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.
The films nominated for the Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures are:
—Amy (distributed by A24) directed by Asif Kapadia; explores the life of the late Amy Winehouse
—The Hunting Ground (Radius-TWC) directed by Kirby Dick; examines rape on college campuses
—The Look of Silence (Drafthouse) directed by Joshua Oppenheimer; the story of a man who confronts those who killed his brother during the Indonesian genocide
—Meru (Music Box) directed by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi; chronicles the initial ascent of the Meru peak in the Himalayas.
—Something Better To Come (International Film Circuit) directed by Hana Polak; the story of a girl who lives in a garbage dump outside of Moscow.
During the awards show, the Producers Guild will also present special honors to Jim Gianopulos, David Heyman and Shonda Rhimes, among others. The 2016 Producers Guild Awards co-chairs are Michael DeLuca (The Social Network, Captain Phillips) and Jennifer Todd (Alice in Wonderland, Celeste and Jesse Forever).
After 20 Years of Acting, Megan Park Finds Her Groove In The Director’s Chair On “My Old Ass”
Megan Park feels a little bad that her movie is making so many people cry. It's not just a single tear either — more like full body sobs.
She didn't set out to make a tearjerker with "My Old Ass," now streaming on Prime Video. She just wanted to tell a story about a young woman in conversation with her older self. The film is quite funny (the dialogue between 18-year-old and almost 40-year-old Elliott happens because of a mushroom trip that includes a Justin Bieber cover), but it packs an emotional punch, too.
Writing, Park said, is often her way of working through things. When she put pen to paper on "My Old Ass," she was a new mom and staying in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. One night, she and her whole nuclear family slept under the same roof. She didn't know it then, but it would be the last time, and she started wondering what it would be like to have known that.
In the film, older Elliott ( Aubrey Plaza ) advises younger Elliott ( Maisy Stella ) to not be so eager to leave her provincial town, her younger brothers and her parents and to slow down and appreciate things as they are. She also tells her to stay away from a guy named Chad who she meets the next day and discovers that, unfortunately, he's quite cute.
At 38, Park is just getting started as a filmmaker. Her first, "The Fallout," in which Jenna Ortega plays a teen in the aftermath of a school shooting, had one of those pandemic releases that didn't even feel real. But it did get the attention of Margot Robbie 's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who reached out to Park to see what other ideas she had brewing.
"They were very instrumental in encouraging me to go with it," Park said. "They're just really even-keeled, good people, which makes... Read More