DEADLINE: With Help From President Obama, Baseball Doc ‘The Turnaround’ Takes Swing At Oscars

Former Pres. Obama is going to bat for a baseball-themed documentary. The ex-POTUS sent an Instagram message to his 36 million+ followers on the social media platform, urging them to...

DEADLINE: Netflix Acquires Latest Film From Ben Proudfoot

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has lined up a blockbuster slate of short documentaries heading into Oscar season, including the latest from two-time Academy Award winner Ben Proudfoot in collaboration with the Obamas’...

DEADLINE: Double Oscar Winner Ben Proudfoot To Premiere Doc On Advertising Pioneer Ilon Specht

Filmmaker Ben Proudfoot is set to premiere his latest documentary short, just a few months after winning the second Academy Award of his career. The Final Copy of Ilon Specht,...

DEADLINE: ‘Motorcycle Mary’ Rides Onto ESPN’s ’30 For 30,’ Doc About Legendary Speed Demon Executive Produced By Lewis Hamilton & Ben Proudfoot

ESPN Films has acquired the documentary Motorcycle Mary ahead of its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival on June 7. The 22-minute film by Haley Watson – her directorial debut...

LA TIMES: L.A. Times wins first Oscar for ‘The Last Repair Shop,’ about LAUSD music program

The Los Angeles Times has covered the Oscars for 95 years — and now it has won one. The heartwarming “The Last Repair Shop,” directed by Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers and...

DEADLINE: Oscar Doc Short Nominations: Sheila Nevins Breaks Through, Ben Proudfoot Scores Third Nom In Four Years

The Last Repair Shop marks the second collaboration between Proudfoot and Bowers to earn Oscar recognition. They were nominated for their 2020 short A Concerto Is a Conversation, which focused on the...

LA TIMES: ‘The Last Repair Shop’ Receives Oscar Nomination

Presented by L.A. Times Studios and Searchlight Pictures, “The Last Repair Shop” is a documentary short film about the technicians maintaining student instruments in the L.A. Unified School District. Directed...

DEADLINE: Searchlight Pictures, L.A. Times Board Doc Short ‘The Last Repair Shop’ From Kris Bowers, Ben Proudfoot

Searchlight Pictures and the L.A. Times Studios on Wednesday announced their boarding of The Last Repair Shop, an acclaimed documentary short, which just received two Critics Choice Association nominations and...

DEADLINE: Directors Ben Proudfoot And Kris Bowers Premiere ‘The Last Repair Shop’ At Telluride, Doc About Awesome Foursome Who Help L.A. School Kids Make Music

This repair shop is the focus of a new documentary directed by Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers (Oscar-nominated for A Concerto Is a Conversation), The Last Repair Shop, which made...

IDA: Making a Production: The Breakwater Story

Fifteen people crowd into the tiny screening room of Breakwater Studios to listen to its founder, Ben Proudfoot, dissect A Concerto Is a Conversation (2021), the 13-minute, Oscar-nominated short documentary he co-directed with composer...

FORBES: Documentary Shorts: The Medium For Communicating Brand Values Today

Brand Storytelling 2023 saw the return of in-person attendance, and with it the event’s first year of in-person screenings from a variety of brands selected by committee. Two films screened in...

NEW YORK TIMES: She Made History as a Black Basketball Star. Why Won’t Her College Name Its Arena for Her?

The Walter Sillers Coliseum, a 3,000-seat brick arena, has been the basketball mecca of Delta State University since it was built in 1960. At that time, Delta State, today a...

DEADLINE: Nancy Pelosi, Naomi Osaka Pay Tribute To Groundbreaking Congresswoman At Capitol Hill ‘Mink!’ Screening

It’s been 50 years since the passage of Title IX, which prohibits gender discrimination in institutions that receive federal funding, and the new short Mink! is a reminder of how circumstances easily could...

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: Sports, Politics and Equality Among Top Subjects of Documentary Short Contenders

This year is filled with insightful and powerful doc shorts, poised to make a splash in the race toward an Academy Award. Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot (The Queen of Basketball)...

VARIETY: Oscar Winner Ben Proudfoot and Publicis Sapient Launch Impact Films, Social Good Documentary Initiative

Academy Award-winning director Ben Proudfoot (“The Queen of Basketball”) and digital business transformation company Publicis Sapient have partnered to launch Impact Films, a short film series designed to showcase technology “as a force for good.”...

DEADLINE: ‘The Best Chef In The World’ Trailer: Oscar Winner Ben Proudfoot’s New Doc Celebrates A Little Known Pioneer Of California Cuisine

Among the pioneers of California cuisine, several chefs are very well known: Wolfgang Puck, of course, Thomas Keller, and Alice Waters, founder of Chez Panisse. But there’s another woman who...

VARIETY: MINK! Will Have Its Festival Premiere at Hollyshorts | Bryan Cranston, Blair Underwood, Jennifer Morrison Lead Hollyshorts Film Festival Jury

Set to open Aug. 11 at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood and virtually through the BITPIX platform, the festival will screen a number of short films including Steve McQueen’s...

DEADLINE: ‘MINK!’: Oscar Winner Ben Proudfoot Pairs With Naomi Osaka For Doc On Woman Who Paved Way For Title IX

EXCLUSIVE: MINK!, filmmaker Ben Proudfoot’s follow up to his Oscar-winning documentary short The Queen of Basketball, will launch this week, a project that teams him with tennis star Naomi Osaka and her...

A Decade of Breakwater Studios – WATCH NOW

Founded in 2012, Breakwater Studios has been a world leader in short-form humanist storytelling. An Academy Award^® winning studio, Breakwater is celebrating our first decade in our mission to champion...

NEW YORK TIMES: When the Backlash Came for Title IX, She Fought Back

Throughout her life, Representative Patsy Mink challenged the status quo. As a leading advocate of Title IX, she defended the bill against those who sought to weaken it. Fifty years...

WOMEN AND HOLLYWOOD: Naomi Osaka Celebrates An Unsung Hero of Title IX in Doc Short “MINK!”

Title IX forever transformed athletics in America, and it almost didn’t happen because of me,” teases Wendy Mink in a new trailer for the documentary short “MINK!.” When U.S. Representative...

VARIETY: Orlando Bloom, Sofia Carson and Lucy Liu Sign on to Ben Proudfoot’s UNICEF Doc ‘If You Have’

Longtime UNICEF ambassadors Orlando Bloom, Sofia Carson and Lucy Liu have signed on as executive producers for the documentary “If You Have,” which chronicles the 75-year history of UNICEF. Directed by Academy Award winner Ben Proudfoot, who won...

NEW YORK TIMES: Film Club: ‘The Life of Jerry Givens, a State Executioner Turned Death-Row Abolitionist’

“The Life of Jerry Givens, a State Executioner Turned Death-Row Abolitionist” is a seven-minute film from the Times’s “Cause of Life” video series that celebrates the messy, tenacious and extraordinary...

NEW YORK TIMES: The Times Wins Its First Oscar®

The Op-Doc “The Queen of Basketball” won in the Documentary Short Subject category at the 2022 Academy Awards. The Op-Doc “The Queen of Basketball” won the 2022 Academy Award in...

NBA: The Queen of Basketball:’ Why have we never heard of Lusia Harris?

Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi, Lisa Leslie and Cheryl Miller are some of the names that come to mind when talking about the best female basketball players of all time. Lusia...

DEADLINE: Oscar Win For ‘The Queen Of Basketball’ Cements Legacy Of Lucy Harris, Validating Support From EP’s Shaq, Steph Curry, Director Ben Proudfoot

Proper recognition for the achievements of Lusia “Lucy” Harris has been a long time coming, but it happened emphatically tonight at the Academy Awards. The Queen of Basketball, which documents...

DEADLINE: Children Of ‘The Queen Of Basketball’ Star Lucy Harris Reflect On Oscar-Nominated Doc About Their Mom: “Her Legacy Forever Lives On”

For the children of Lusia “Lucy” Harris, the woman at the center of The Queen of Basketball, the prospect of the upcoming Oscar ceremony brings a feeling of joy, along...

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: Steph Curry Joins Shaquille O’Neal as EP of Oscar-Nominated Short ‘The Queen of Basketball’

The film premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival, won the best documentary short Critics Choice Award and is currently streaming on the New York Times’ website and YouTube channel....

MOTION PICTURE ASSOCIATION: Director Ben Proudfoot on his Oscar-Nominated Short “The Queen of Basketball”

Lusia “Lucy” Harris’s basketball resume includes leading Delta State University in Mississippi to three consecutive national titles and representing the US at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. She made history as...

DEADLINE: Oscar-Shortlisted Doc ‘The Queen Of Basketball’ Tells Story Of Forgotten GOAT Of Women’s Game: “She Was Absolutely Extraordinary”

In the mid-1970s when the horn sounded for a Delta State University Lady Statesmen’s basketball game, center Lusia “Lucy” Harris could not be stopped. “The pass comes into No. 45...

DEADLINE: “A Defiant Act Of Bravery”: ‘The Beauty President’ Recalls Terence Alan Smith’s Campaign As “First Drag Queen” Presidential Candidate

In 1992 the presidential race came down to three main candidates: the Republican incumbent, President George H.W. Bush, Democrat Bill Clinton, and Independent Ross Perot. But they weren’t the only...

VARIETY: How the NY Times Built Its Op-Docs Series Into an Awards Pipeline for Nonfiction Films

Ten years ago, the New York Times embarked on an experiment to incorporate short documentary films into its opinion section and quickly established itself as an alternative to HBO Documentary...

DEADLINE: Shaquille O’Neal Boards ‘The Queen of Basketball’ As EP, Calls Documentary’s Unsung Heroine “A Living Legend And A Pioneer”

EXCLUSIVE: NBA great Shaquille O’Neal is joining a new team—the one behind the award-winning documentary The Queen of Basketball. The Hall of Fame center and four-time NBA champ has signed on as...

DEADLINE: L.A. Times Enters Short Doc Space, Premieres Oscar-Contender ‘The Beauty President,’ On “Queer, Black Drag Queen” Candidate For Nation’s Highest Office

EXCLUSIVE: The Los Angeles Times is premiering the short documentary The Beauty President Tuesday, part of a new initiative that will showcase nonfiction shorts “with a West Coast perspective.” The Beauty President, directed...

LA TIMES: The Beauty President, a doc about America’s first drag queen presidential candidate

‘The Beauty President’ is a short documentary about 1992 U.S. presidential candidate Terence Alan Smith, from executive producer Lena Waithe and emerging director Whitney Skauge, presented by Breakwater Studios, Hillman...

ABC7: Oscar-nominated short subject documentary ‘A Concerto is a Conversation’ rooted in music, family, LA history

 The Oscar nominated short subject documentary film “A Concerto is a Conversation” is rooted in Los Angeles history. The film tells the story of Mr. Horace Bowers Sr. and his...

ABC NEWS: 2 documentaries up for Oscars tell stories of nonagenarians

The Oscar isn’t the only one celebrating its 93rd trip around the sun at the Academy Awards ceremony this year. The shorts category features two documentaries, “ A Concerto is a Conversation...

VARIETY: Oscar-Nominated Short Film ‘A Concerto Is a Conversation’ Bridges Generations in a Tale About Family and Race in America

Oscar-nominated short film “A Concerto Is a Conversation” is the story of love between a grandfather and his grandson woven together through music. It’s also a narrative about race in...

DEADLINE: Grandfather, Grandson: Two Generations Meet Face To Face In Oscar-Shortlisted ‘A Concerto Is A Conversation’

The Oscar-shortlisted short documentary A Concerto Is a Conversation is a classic two-hander, the kind of story with two protagonists of equal importance. In this case the characters are Horace Bowers Sr.,...

VARIETY: Ava DuVernay to Executive Produce Kris Bowers and Ben Proudfoot’s Documentary Short ‘A Concerto Is a Conversation’

Ava DuVernay is reuniting with “When They See Us” composer Kris Bowers for the documentary short “A Concerto Is a Conversation.” DuVernay will executive produce the film, which was co-directed and produced by...

THE ATLANTIC: A World-Famous Pastry Chef’s Heartbreaking Regret

The impulse to strive for excellence is something that was instilled in Milton Abel II from childhood. Growing up in Kansas City, the famed jazz musician Milton Abel Sr. immersed...

DAILY BEAST: Virtuoso Pastry Chef Milton Abel on Fatherhood, Jazz, and His Life’s Greatest Regret

The star of the short film ‘That’s My Jazz,’ premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival, Milton Abel discusses fatherhood, food, and growing up the son of a jazz music legend....