Kristen Stewart is no stranger to biopics, with “Seberg” in 2019 and “Spencer” in 2021. Now she has another to add to her upcoming projects, but this one has a meta twist. Variety reports (via Screen Daily) that Stewart will star as the writer and intellectual Susan Sontag in Kirsten Johnson‘s next film, the director’s follow-up to 2016’s “Cameraperson‘ and 2020’s “Dick Johnson Is Dead.”

READ MORE: ‘The Chronology Of Water’: Kristen Stewart’s Feature Directorial Debut Is A Swimming Memoir With Imogen Poots Set To Star

Johnson will base “Sontag” off Ben Moser‘s 2019 biography “Sontag: Her Life,” with Johnson co-writing a script with Lisa Kron.

Continue reading Kristen Stewart Will Play Susan Sontag In Kirsten Johnson’s Upcoming Meta Documentary, Which Starts Filming At Berlin 2023 at The Playlist.

Every Tuesday, discriminating viewers are confronted with a flurry of choices: new releases on disc and on demand, vintage and original movies on any number of streaming platforms, catalogue titles making a splash on Blu-ray or 4K. This biweekly column sifts through all of those choices to pluck out the movies most worth your time, no matter how you’re watching.

This week’s disc and streaming debuts include the latest from an Oscar-winning international filmmaker, the latest from a Film Twitter favorite, a pair of great 2020 documentaries, and two classics getting the 4K Criterion treatment.

Continue reading The Best Movies To Buy Or Stream This Week: ‘Last Night in Soho,’ ‘A Hero,’ ‘A Hard Day’s Night,’ & More at The Playlist.

In the pre-pandemic world, the leading lights of American nonfiction cinema would gather in Columbia, Missouri on the first weekend of March for the annual celebration of their craft known as True/False Film Fest. Across four glorious days, the programming would explore the innumerable definitions of this hazily defined discipline, but this year, the ongoing COVID-19 crisis forced the festival into outdoor venues elsewhere in the city for a somewhat truncated version.

‘Procession’: Robert Greene’s Therapeutic Catholic Church Sex Abuse Survivors Doc Is Devastating [Telluride Review]

And so there was an air of the cathartic at the Crosby Street Hotel in New York this weekend, as a veritable Super-Friends lineup of documentary filmmakers came together for the sort of state-of-the-industry panel they (and we) had all missed out on back in the spring.

Continue reading Kirsten Johnson, Ross Brothers, Robert Greene & More Talk At ‘New Directions in Documentary’ Event at The Playlist.

Every Tuesday, discriminating viewers are confronted with a flurry of choices: new releases on disc and on-demand, vintage, and original movies on any number of streaming platforms, catalog titles making a splash on Blu-ray or 4K. This biweekly column sifts through all of those choices to pluck out the movies most worth your time, no matter how you’re watching. 

It’s a busy week on the new release front, with a handful of hits getting the 4K treatment, hidden gems and certified classics hitting Blu-ray, and one of the year’s very best movies making its Netflix bow.

Continue reading The 12 Best Movies To Buy Or Stream This Week: ‘Dick Johnson Is Dead,’ ‘The Elephant Man’ & More at The Playlist.

“Dick Johnson is Dead” is not the typical documentary. In fact, one could argue that it’s more of a therapeutic exercise than a film. Though, with director Kirsten Johnson (best known for her doc “Cameraperson“) behind the camera, no matter its intention, you know you’re in good hands.

READ MORE: ‘Dick Johnson Is Dead’: Director Kirsten Johnson Returns With A Witty, Bright-Eyed Doc [Sundance Review]

As seen in the trailer for “Dick Johnson is Dead,” Kirsten Johnson’s new documentary follows the story of losing her father.

Continue reading ‘Dick Johnson Is Dead’ Trailer: Kirsten Johnson Prepares To Lose Her Dad In The Award-Winning Netflix Doc at The Playlist.

Academy snubs be damned, 2019 was a spectacular end to a decade of outstanding films directed by women. Joanna Hogg reinvented visual memoir with “The Souvenir,” Lulu Wang challenged American conceptions of family and death in “The Farewell,” and Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women” adaptation upended one of the most iconic American novels by and about a woman.

Continue reading 52 Films Directed By Women To Watch In 2020 at The Playlist.

Any discussion featuring Werner Herzog describing his filmmaking process is going to be interesting, and The Hollywood Reporter’s documentary roundtable was no exception. In addition to Herzog discussing his two most recent documentaries “Into The Inferno” and “Lo And Behold, Reveries Of The Connected World,” filmmakers Ezra Edelman (“O.J.: Made In America“), Kirsten Johnson (“Cameraperson”), Josh Kriegman (“Weiner”), Raoul Peck (“I Am Not Your Negro”), and Roger Ross Williams (“Life, Animated”) also provided insight into their cinematic approach.

Continue reading 66-Minute Documentary Director Roundtable Talk With Werner Herzog, Ezra Edelman, Kirsten Johnson & More at The Playlist.

Kirsten Johnson‘s “Cameraperson” (one of our 22 Best Documentaries Of 2016) told her tale as a filmmaker and storyteller by cleverly using outtakes from the various projects she’s worked on over the years. It was a movie that surprised many with its depth, and Johnson has another intriguing project on her plate, one that offers some fascinating influences.

In an interview with Variety, the director shared details about what she was working on next, and it’s another personal story, but one containing some very big, comedic inspirations.

Continue reading ‘Cameraperson’ Director Kirsten Johnson Says Her Next Film Is Like ‘Groundhog Day’ & ‘Jackass’ at The Playlist.

We’re looking back at 2016 during December, and while it’s been a shitshow in so many ways, it has also been a very good year at the movies —particularly when it came to discovering new talent. From massive blockbusters to Oscar winners, from cult hits to tiny indies, the last twelve months has seen a wealth of exciting new filmmakers emerge, leaving us with plenty of faith for the medium’s future (even if we have to watch their next movies huddled together on a break in President Trump’s copper mines).

Continue reading The 25 Best Breakthrough Directors Of 2016 at The Playlist.

While the climate has never been healthier for documentaries, there are few, if any, that you will see this year as unique and insightful as Kirsten Johnson’s “Cameraperson” (which made our list of the 20 Best Documentaries Of 2016 So Far, this summer). It’s a film we’ve been talking about since it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival (our review), and with the picture set to hit cinemas, we’ve got an exclusive clip that highlights just how special this movie is.

Continue reading Exclusive: Kirsten Johnson Returns To Sarajevo In Clip From Acclaimed Documentary ‘Cameraperson’ at The Playlist.

Hopefully you’ve taken a moment to peruse our On The Rise 2016: 20 Filmmakers To Watch, and if you have, you’ll know we’re pretty keen on filmmaker Kirsten Johnson. In the game for over two decades, and earning credits on films like “Darfur Now,” ‘The Invisible War,” “Fahrenheit 9/11,” and “Citizenfour,” in “Cameraperson” Johnson puts herself in front of the lens for a unique look at her career and process.

Continue reading First Trailer For Kirsten Johnson’s Acclaimed Documentary ‘Cameraperson’ at The Playlist.

Earlier this month, we debuted the first installment of our On The Rise series for this year by looking at the actors and actresses we’re tapping for big things to come. But looking at the talent in front of camera only tells a small portion of the story: they wouldn’t be anywhere without the people who actually make the movies.

It’s an infectious feeling to walk out of a film and know that you’ve watched the start of what promises to be an enormously exciting career, and the emergence of new voices is one of the things that makes the movies so exciting.

Continue reading On The Rise 2016: 20 Filmmakers To Watch at The Playlist.