Luke Lorentzen: Last News

Addie Morfoot Contributor Abramorama has acquired North American theatrical rights to Luke Lorentzen’s feature-length documentary “A Still Small Voice.”The pact comes after the film made its world premiere earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival, where Lorentzen received the Directing Award: U.S. Documentary. In 2019 Lorentzen’s “Midnight Family” made the Oscar feature doc shortlist.The 93-minute film, which explores the world of hospital chaplains and the vital emotional and spiritual support they offer patients, families, and staff, will begin its nationwide theatrical rollout at New York City’s DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema on Nov.

Apple TV+ has set the two-episode premiere date for the Spanish-language medical drama Midnight Family for Wednesday, September 25. New individual episodes will follow weekly on Wednesdays until November 20.

Addie Morfoot Contributor This year’s Oscar feature documentary shortlist is made up of a group of 15 films that, by and large, big streamers aren’t interested in sharing with subscribers. Six films that made it to the shortlist — Lea Glob’s “Apolonia, Apolonia,” Nancy Buirski’s “Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy,” Kaouther Ben Hania’s “Four Daughters,” Maciek Hamela’s “In the Rearview,” Luke Lorentzen’s “A Still Small Voice” and Sam Green’s “32 Sounds” — have theatrical distribution, but were not picked up by a major streaming company such as Netflix, Amazon or Apple TV+.

Mammoth Lakes Film Festival. The full winners list was announced Tuesday following the Closing Night Award Ceremony on Sunday. This year, the festival screened over 100 feature and short films and awarded over $45,000 worth of prizes to winners. “Unicorn Boy” was named Best Narrative Feature while “Where the Road Leads” earned the Best International Narrative Feature award from both the festival jury and audience. Best Documentary Feature went to Luke Lorentzen’s “A Still Small Voice” and the Best International Documentary Feature was given to Nisha Kumari Pahuja’s “To Kill A Tiger.” The Bravery Award for documentary features was given to Tim Grant & Andy McMillan’s “Mississippi River Styx.”

Malina Saval Associate Editor, Features Jewish Story Partners (JSP), a Los Angeles-based nonprofit film funding organization, has announced  its new slate of grants to 19 documentary film projects. The org, which was launched in April 2021 with support from Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg’s Righteous Persons Foundation, will distribute $490,000 among these independent films, all of which explore the vast and vibrant terrain of the Jewish storytelling space. The announcement coincides with Jewish American Heritage Month and a commitment from President Joe Biden’s White House administration to develop a national strategy to counter antisemitism and “address increasing awareness and understanding of both antisemitism and Jewish American heritage.” 

Addie Morfoot Contributor Davis Guggenheim’s “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” will open the eighth edition of Chicago’s Doc10 documentary film festival on May 4.About Fox’s life, career and work as a public advocate for Parkinson’s research, “Still: A Michael J.

Addie Morfoot Contributor As the market for independently made documentaries continues to dry up, regional film festivals have become essential to filmmakers hoping to sell their docs. At this year’s Sarasota Film Festival, which kicks off on March 25, 36 documentaries are part of the lineup. Over 25 of them are seeking distribution. They include Luke Lorentzen’s “A Still Small Voice,” Alexandria Bombach’s “It’s Only Life After All” about the Indigo Girls, Ben Braun and Chiaki Yanagimoto “AUM: The Cult at the End of the World” and Bethann Hardison and Frédéric Tcheng’s “Invisible Beauty.” All four films premiered at Sundance in January. “From Submarine’s point of view, we’ve always encouraged great regional festivals like Sarasota, the Berkshires, Woodstock and the Hamptons partially because there is the possibility that awards voters are there,” says Submarine Entertainment sales agent Josh Braun, who reps both “AUM: The Cult at the End of the World” and “Invisible Beauty.” “There’s the possibility of industry being there in the form of a judge or on an industry panel.”