Sara Bernstein: Last News

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterLatin American jazz fusion icon Carlos Santana will be the subject of an expansive documentary directed by Emmy winner Rudy Valdez.Imagine Documentaries is collaborating with Sony Music Entertainment on the project, who is co-financing and handling distribution. It will follow Santana’s journey from 14-year-old street musician to a 10-time Grammy winning global sensation, and feature unseen archival footage and tracks.Valdez is the director of the Sundance documentary audience award winner “The Sentence,” about the corrosive effect of mandatory minimum sentencing on convicts and their families.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Stormy,” a documentary about former porn star Stormy Daniels, has been picked up by Blue Ant Studios for international distribution. The launch was announced on Monday, the same day that former U.S. president Donald Trump begins a criminal trial in New York for allegedly covering up hush money payments to Daniels. “Stormy,” offered as two one-hour episodes or a two-hour feature, is produced by Emmy-nominated producers Erin Lee Carr (“I Love You,” “Now Die: The Commonwealth v.

Stormy Daniels Doc Finds Global Distribution

Addie Morfoot Contributor The South by Southwest debut of “Stormy” was not your typical Imagine Documentaries premiere. About adult film star Stormy Daniels’ alleged affair with former President Donald Trump, the film drew an eclectic crowd that included porn stars and “Muppet” director-producer Frank Oz, who sat in the same row as Daniels and her entourage made up mainly of buff bodyguards.

EXCLUSIVE: Imagine Entertainment co-chairmen Brian Grazer and Ron Howard have entered into a multi-year co-financing and production partnership with Fifth Season and their co-CEOs Graham Taylor and Chris Rice.

Addie Morfoot Contributor Sacha Jenkins and Raquel Cepeda’s Resurgent Pictures has partnered with Imagine Documentaries to develop and co-produce film, television and documentaries.The partnership with the nonfiction division of Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment and Resurgent Pictures is a multi-year agreement. Headed by Sara Bernstein, Imagine Documentaries recently co-produced Jenkins’ “Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues.” The Apple TV+ docu, which debuted at the Toronto Intl.

EXCLUSIVE: The Israeli music festival in which hundreds of young people were killed by Hamas, providing the spark for this week’s bloody conflict, is to be spotlighted in a documentary.

Ben Croll Imagine Documentaries, the non-fiction branch of Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment, is looking to boost a new generation of documentary talent. Speaking at a panel at Rome’s MIA Market, Imagine Documentaries president Sara Bernstein revealed that her company has signed a development deal with filmmakers Isabel Bethencourt and Parker Hill, whose teenagers-in-Texas portrait “Cusp” premiered to critical acclaim at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, while praising director Jackie Jesko, whose three-part, true-crime doc “Savior Complex” premiered on HBO last month.

Documentaries like Netflix’s Harry & Meghan are “almost in a different category,” the docs boss of Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment said today.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Rome’s upcoming MIA market dedicated to international TV series, animation, feature films and documentaries is set to run Oct. 9-13 in central Rome’s Palazzo Barberini, which besides being Italy’s National Ancient Art gallery, is also the market’s main hub. Now at its ninth edition, this innovative pre-Mipcom event (the MIA acronym stands for the Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo or International Audiovisual Market) aims to boost the Italian industry by strengthening its international ties.

Ellise Shafer MIA, the international market held annually in Rome, has announced the first confirmed speakers for its ninth edition. This year, speakers at the industry event — which focuses on co-production, financing strategies and sales and distribution — include Nicole Clemens, president of Paramount of Paramount Television Studios and Paramount+ original scripted series; Sara Bernstein, president of Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Documentaries; Marge Dean, head of Skybound Entertainment’s animation studio and president of Women in Animation; “Waltz With Bashir” director Ari Folman; Nicholas Weinstock, founder and president of Invention Studios and “Severance” producer; and James Townley, chief content officer of development at Banijay.

Paramount’s Nicole Clemens, Imagine Documentaries boss Sara Bernstein and Severance producer Nicholas Weinstock are among the first tranche of speakers for this year’s MIA market in Italy.

Sony Picture Classics and Trafalgar Releasing have firmed up worldwide release plans for Carlos, their feature documentary on 10-time Grammy-winning musical icon, Carlos Santana.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor The world of documentary, news and nonfiction content is as varied as the work done by Rachel Maddow, Dawn Porter and Roy Wood Jr. Those three are among the industry notables set to appear at Variety and Rolling Stone’s third annual Truth Seekers Summit, a daylong gathering for the nonfiction production sector to be held Aug. 2 at New York’s Second, an event location on 6th Avenue.

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.”

BreAnna Bell Rudy Valdez has entered into an overall unscripted deal with Imagine Documentaries, Variety has learned. Under the agreement, Valdez will develop, direct and executive produce new nonfiction projects for the studio through his Bluff Road Films banner. The two time Emmy Award-winning filmmaker started his career as a camera operator on the Peabody Award-winning, Sundance series “Brick City” and went on to direct his passion project on HBO’s “The Sentence.” Shot and directed by Valdez over the course of a decade, this feature documentary tells the very personal story of his sister’s plight in the criminal justice system, while tackling subjects like mandatory minimums and sentencing reform.

Few authors have established as powerful a bond with their fans as Judy Blume. That incredible connection first manifested with the publication of her debut novel for young adults, 1970’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, which shattered taboos by candidly addressing subjects like menstruation and masturbation.  

Sony Pictures Classics has snapped up worldwide rights to Carlos, a new documentary about the father of Latin American jazz fusion, Carlos Santana. A release date for the film directed by Emmy winner Rudy Valdez (The Sentence) has not yet been disclosed.

Julia MacCary editor Prime Video dropped the trailer for the documentary “Judy Blume Forever,” which depicts the author’s childhood to her prolific career creating acclaimed books that have met controversy. Blume is the literary juggernaut behind dozens of children, young adult and adult fiction novels, including “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing” and “Blubber.” The documentary dives into specific titles and examines their impact. While Blume’s work has provided comfort to many readers, her candid approach to topics such as puberty, masturbation and sex has led some titles to become banned, which the author continues to fight against.

Cue the menacing tuba. And the Imperial March. And the rousing Indiana Jones theme. Five-time Oscar-winning composer John Williams is getting the feature documentary treatment, and his half-century collaborator is among those wielding the baton.

EXCLUSIVE: Justin Wilkes, Chief Strategy Officer of Imagine Entertainment and President of Imagine Documentaries and Brands, has been promoted to President of the company, headed by Executive Chairmen Brian Grazer and Ron Howard.