Roger Ross: Celebs Rumors

Oscar-winning filmmaker Roger Ross Williams has much to celebrate this weekend. His first narrative/fiction film, Cassandro, opens theatrically today. And he has just been named the recipient of the Critics Choice Impact Award from the Critics Choice Association.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Sting, Isabella Rossellini, and U.S. director Roger Ross Williams (“The Apollo,” “Life Animated”) came out to support the recent New York launch of Matteo Garrone’s Venice prizewinning immigration epic “Io Capitano” at the Museum of Modern Art. The movie – which is Italy’s now shortlisted Oscar candidate for best international feature film – narrates the Homeric journey of two two Senegalese teenagers, Seydou and Moussa, who decide to leave Dakar to reach Europe in pursuit of a better life.

The 1619 Project, which has been praised for reframing our understanding of American history but attacked by conservatives who brand it as “woke-ism,” won the Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series Emmy on Sunday at the Creative Arts ceremony.

Roger Ross Williams, the director of Cassandro, opened up about why it was important to portray a positive queer story in the biopic based on a real-life gay amateur wrestler that turned Mexican lucha libre on its head.

Murtada Elfadl Many of us probably think we know how racist anti-Black ideas started or think racism was always part of the human condition. Director Roger Ross Williams challenges these notions with his adaptation of Ibram X. Kendi’s book “Stamped From the Beginning.” Relying on testimony from Black female scholars and Kendi’s research, the helmer (whose previous credits include “Life, Animated” and “Cassandro”) starts by posing a provocative question: “What is wrong with Black people?” By the end of the film, Williams unsparingly topples the sanctimoniousness inherent in thinking the answer is simple or clear.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Netflix has released the trailer for “Stamped From the Beginning,” a hybrid documentary and scripted feature that delves into race in the United States. Roger Ross Williams (“The Apollo Life”) directs Ibram X. Kendi’s book adaptation of the same name.

The Hulu series The 1619 Project and the Showtime feature Nothing Lasts Forever scored a leading three nominations apiece today as the Cinema Eye Honors announced its first round of contenders for the prestigious documentary-focused awards.

Aramide Tinubu Though beauty is subjective, some images, portraits and spaces are so exquisite that they become timeless, forever solidified in the imagination of popular culture. The perfect image brings in consumers. Since advertising began, models have always held a place in society.

—you have, right? Because a lot went down—there is so much to watch this week. Let's start with , which tells me is messier than ever. “Even the most seemingly compatible and solid couples aren't safe,” she says.

McKinley Franklin editor The Gotham Film and Media Institute has revealed the programming for 2023 Variety Gotham Week, equipped with a slate of panel discussions, screenings and Q&As with an array of film and media creators, Variety can exclusively reveal. Taking place between Oct. 2 and Oct.

The Toronto International Film Festival announced its lineup of documentaries this morning, a slate that includes the world premiere of a film on uncancelled comedian Louis C.K., as well as fresh work from nonfiction greats Raoul Peck, Frederick Wiseman, Errol Morris, Lucy Walker and Roger Ross Williams.

Four of the world’s most iconic supermodels will be seen like never before in an upcoming “event documentary” from Apple TV+.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Apple TV+ is bringing Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington back to the screen in a new four-part documentary “The Super Models.” The documentary from Imagine Documentaries and One Story Up is directed by Academy Award-winner Roger Ross Williams and Larissa Bills. The series follows the legends of the catwalk as they reveal how they began their careers and ended up dominating the modeling world. Archival footage and interviews provide unprecedented access. As the logline for the series reads, “‘The Supermodels’ travels back to the 1980s, when four women from different corners of the world united in New York. Already forces in their own right, the gravitas they achieved by coming together transcended the industry itself. Their prestige was so extraordinary that it enabled the four to supersede the brands they showcased, making the names Naomi, Cindy, Linda and Christy as prominent as the designers who styled them. Today, the four supermodels remain on the frontlines of culture through activism, philanthropy and business prowess. As the fashion industry continues to redefine itself – and women’s roles within it – this is the ultimate story of power and how four women came together to claim it, paving the way for those to follow.”

Love to Love You, Donna Summer is not just a documentary, it’s a hymn to the life and times of the indisputable queen of disco. The film conveys Donna Summer’s journey from the gospel churches of Boston to the dance floors that defined an era. Directed by first-time helmer and Summer’s daughter Brooklyn Sudano and Roger Ross Williams (The Apollo, Traveling While Black), Love to Love You weaves together interviews, footage and the singer’s infectious music to deliver a new perspective on the life of a vocal powerhouse. As part of the Deadline FYC House + HBO Max Event series, we spoke with Sudano, Williams and producer David Blackman on the red carpet at the New York premiere. 

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Donna Summer is to this day considered the Queen of Disco thanks to her chart-topping hits throughout the 1970s, famous for her commanding stage presence, dramatic makeup and voluptuous curls.

the music charts and had 14 top-ten singles, including «Hot Stuff,» «Bad Girls» and «She Works Hard for the Money,» making her one of the most prolific singer-songwriters of her era. Now fans can see Summer as never before with the release of the HBO Original . Directed by Oscar and Emmy-winner Roger Ross William and the daughter of Summer, Brooklyn Sudano, this documentary combines intimate footage and interviews from those closest to her.In this personal portrait, viewers will get to see into the life of Summer, on and off the stage.While many are familiar with her on-stage persona — a dazzling presence that could entertain the biggest crowds — few know what she was really like under it all.

Charna Flam The Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences has launched an Academy Originals podcast, “The Art of the Documentary.” The new podcast is hosted by Oscar-nominee and “Crip Camp” documentarian Jim LeBrecht. The six-episode season will include LeBrecht sitting down with documentary filmmakers, as they reveal to the host and the audience their filmmaking processes. “The Art of the Documentary,” will chronicle “how a filmmaker approaches their subject and how they engage with it,” according to the press release. The podcast will highlight how the various documentarians work to find new filmmaking approaches, all in an effort to tell their stories in innovative ways. LeBrecht and guests will discuss how they achieve special access and how far they’ll go to get their story — even if that means taking dangerous risks.

CPH:DOX, the international nonfiction film festival in Copenhagen, isn’t shy about stating its ambitions.

Oscar winner and Academy member Roger Ross Williams is saying publicly what many in the documentary community have stewed over privately – that the sums of money being spent on Oscar documentary campaigns has “gotten insane.” And Williams, a former Academy Governor representing the Doc Branch, says something may be done about it.

Addie Morfoot Contributor During a talk at Copenhagen’s CPH:DOX on Wednesday, Oscar-winning director Roger Ross Williams spoke about a wide variety of topics, including his latest documentary, “Love to Love You, Donna Summer,” how insanely expensive it is to garner a doc Oscar nomination, and why the racial reckoning that occurred in the nonfiction community after George Floyd’s murder is over. Despite celebrity-driven docs being all the rage, Williams admitted that he usually rejects them. “I have so many celebrities who come to me about making a documentary (about their life),” the helmer told moderator Thom Powers. “It’s never worked out because if they are a living celebrity, who is very popular, they are all about control. It’s a piece of propaganda about their image and their career. It’s not a documentary.”

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent As it continues ramping up its premium docu slate, Mediawan has boarded “Sobibor – Escape from History,” a four-part documentary which is being developed by leading Dutch banner Submarine (“Last Hijack”). In the documentary series, the infamous death camp will be portrayed through the eyes of the rebels and survivors. It will tell the epic true story of a group of Jewish prisoners who managed to escape from inside the living hell of a Nazi concentration camp and attempt to rebuild their lives. Some seeked retribution, others redemption. Their children struggle to this day in different ways with the trauma of their parents. The series also follows two surviving relatives, a daughter and a niece who return to Poland, to their ancestral villages where their relatives were banished.

Ellise Shafer HBO Max will host its own coffeehouse at SXSW this year, featuring events centered around the streamer’s popular titles like “The Last of Us” and “The White Lotus.” The two-day activation is presented by HBO Max’s Human by Orientation and Pa’lante initiatives, which are designed to “elevate and celebrate the LGBTQIA+ and Latinx communities,” according to a press release. The coffeehouse will be open to the public on March 11 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and on March 12 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The coffeehouse will host both invite-only and public events, including a HBO documentary filmmaker roundtable, “The Last of Us” fireside chat with Gabriel Luna and Variety‘s Selome Hailu, an acoustic performance by Ambar Lucid, a queer cocktail party and “The White Lotus” discussion with writer Evan Ross Katz and Variety‘s Adam B. Vary.

The documentary Love to Love You, Donna Summer, about one of the world’s greatest pop stars, constitutes a kind of duet – between two filmmakers. The film, making its world premiere in Berlin, comes from directors Roger Ross Williams and Brooklyn Sudano, daughter of the subject of the film, the legendary Donna Summer. 

HBO Documentary Films has acquired worldwide television and streaming rights to Master of Light, the SXSW award-winning film about artist George Anthony Morton, who honed his exceptional talent while serving a prison sentence.

“Master of Light” follows the story of George Anthony Morton, a Black painter who was sentenced to ten years in prison for dealing drugs and spent his time behind bars honing his craft as a classical artist. After returning to the outside world, he heads home to Kansas City to use his art to mend his broken relationship with his mother while trying to break into an artistic world dominated by white painters.

A few years ago, as filmmaker Roger Ross Williams contemplated founding his own production company, he experienced a Field of Dreams kind of vision: “If you build it, they will come.”

EXCLUSIVE: Polygram Entertainment, the film and television arm of Universal Music Group, is embarking on a feature documentary about iconic singer Donna Summer, with some of the biggest names in nonfiction attached to the project.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterA docuseries based on “The 1619 Project” from New York Times Magazine’s and Nikole Hannah-Jones has been ordered at Hulu.Academy Award-winning filmmaker Roger Ross Williams will produce and oversee the series under his One Story Up production banner with producing partner and co-executive producer Geoff Martz. Williams will also direct the first episode.

EXCLUSIVE: Lisa Cortés, co-director of Amazon’s voter suppression documentary All In: The Fight for Democracy, is set to direct The Empire of Ebony, a documentary that explores the rise and impact of the first black media empire Ebony magazine and its sister publication, Jet. Cortés will produce the pic with Alyse Shoreland and Roger Ross Williams under his One Story Up banner. Cortés and Williams previously collaborated on the Emmy-winning doc, The Apollo.

UTA has signed filmmaker Roger Ross Williams and his production banner, One Story Up, for representation. Williams is the first African American director to win an Academy Award for his short film Music by Prudence.

Angelique Jackson Filmmaker Roger Ross Williams, an Oscar and Emmy winner, has signed with UTA. The director and his One Story Up production banner will be represented by the agency in all areas.In 2010, Williams became the first African American director to win an Academy Award for his documentary short film “Music by Prudence.” The director, producer and writer was nominated for a second Oscar in 2017 for his documentary “Life, Animated,” which ultimately collected two News & Documentary Emmy Awards.

UTA has inked Academy and Emmy Award-winning director, producer, and writer Roger Ross Williams and his production banner, One Story Up, in all areas.

Matthew Carey In 2019 filmmaker Roger Ross Williams contended for an Emmy with his VR documentary Traveling While Black, a sensory experience that told the true story of the Negro Motorist Green Book (as opposed to the 2018 Oscar-winning film, which opted for a white-centric storyline).With final 2020 Emmy voting now underway, Williams is back in contention with The Apollo, another documentary that speaks forcefully to the African-American journey. The HBO film, nominated for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special, is at once an exploration of the historic theater in Harlem—the premiere showcase of Black entertainment talent for generations—and a monument to a people refusing to be erased despite systemic oppression.

By Patrick Hipes