This year we are delighted to host the 2023 FOCAL Awards at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms on June 15th, we hope you can join us. Congratulations to all the shortlisted nominees.
2023 shortlisted nominations
Queen of the Deuce
Director:
Valerie Kontakos
Producer(s):
Ed Barreveld, Valerie Kontakos, Despina Pavlaki
Footage Archive Producer:
Erin Chisholm
Archival Sources:
Bondi and Don Walters, Something Weird Video, DistribPix, National Archives and Records Administration, Net-Film
Production Company:
Storyline Entertainment Inc., Exile Films
Country of Production:
Canada, Greece
Synopsis
From pre-WWII Greece to her meteoric rise through the Times Square pornography circuit in the 1970s, “Queen of the Deuce” tells the story of Chelly Wilson, trailblazing entrepreneur, unconventional matriarch and Holocaust escapist, who built an empire based on desire.
The Andy Warhol Diaries
Director:
Andrew Rossi
Producer(s):
Maya Rudolph, Ryan Murphy, Alexis Martin Woodall, Scott Robertson, Andrew Rossi, Josh Braun, Dan Braun, Stanley F. Buchthal, Adam Sylvan McGill, Stacey Reiss
Archive Researchers/ Producer:
Lisa Janssen, Gabriella Ortega Rickets, Jane E. Tucker
Archival Sources:
Andy Warhol Foundation, Individual photographers' estates, Numerous living individual photographers, Independent filmmakers and artists
Production Company:
Abstract Submarine LLC
Country of Production:
United States
Synopsis
The Andy Warhol Diaries is an American documentary streaming television limited series from executive producer Ryan Murphy, based on the 1989 non-fiction book of the same name by Andy Warhol, as edited by Pat Hackett. The series features the famed pop artist narrating his own diary entries through the employment of AI (voiced by Bill Irwin).
Written and directed by Andrew Rossi the series unfolds in a collage of found and recreated footage, based primarily on diary entries expressing Warhol’s great love for three main protagonists: the interior designer Jed Johnson, with whom he spent 12 years; the Paramount Pictures vice-president Jon Gould; and the painter Jean-Michel Basquiat.
The series utilized a stunning amount of archival materials, over 5000s individual clips and photographs ranging from the artist's personal archive to major photographer's estates.
A Czechoslovak Fairy Tale (Un conte de fée tchécoslovaque)
Director:
Christian Paigneau
Producer(s):
Julie Meigniez, Vincent Gazaigne, Simona Kadrnková, Václav Kadrnka
Archive Researcher/ Producer:
Christian Paigneau, Julie Meigniez
Archival Sources:
NFA (Prague National Film Archive), SFU (Slovak Film Institute), SVT (Swedish Television), Ceska Televize, INA
Production Company:
Talweg, Sirius Films, ARTE G.E.I.E., Slovenský filmový ústav
Country of Production:
France, Czech Republic, France, Slovakia
Synopsis
The Czechoslovak New Wave was born in the early 1960's out of the dream of communist authorities to develop their own Hollywood in Central Europe. But soon the creature escaped its master’s control. The New Wave would invent a cinema obsessed with reality, as poetic as critical, reveal great filmmakers (Věra Chytilová, Jiří Menzel, Jan Němec, Jaromil Jireš, Milos Forman), and claim freedom that would resonate well beyond the country’s borders.
Meanwhile, Jan Procházka, a young communist writer, became in no time scriptwriter and producer of films. Soon, Jan Procházka’s impressive ascension merged with the New Wave dynamics, which changed his artistic destiny.
"A Czechoslovak Fairy Tale" recounts how this man and this cinematic movement each tried to speak out.
Sidney
Director:
Reginald Hudlin
Producer(s):
Oprah Winfrey, Derik Murray, Reginald Hudlin
Senior Archive Producer:
Bianca Cervantes
Archive Executive:
Charles Hannah
Archive Producer:
Matthew Van Deventer
Archival Sources:
Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, HARPO, Stud Terkel Archive, WNET: SOUL! / The Great American Dream Machine (Belafonte Enterprises), Global Image Works / Dick Cavett Show
Production Company:
Apple Original Films, Harpo Productions, Network Entertainment
Country of Production:
United States, Canada
Synopsis
From producer Oprah Winfrey and directed by Reginald Hudlin, this revealing documentary honors the legendary Sidney Poitier and his legacy as an iconic actor, filmmaker and activist at the center of Hollywood and the Civil Rights Movement. Featuring candid interviews with Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Robert Redford, Lenny Kravitz, Barbra Streisand, Spike Lee and many more, the film is also produced by Derik Murray, in close collaboration with the Poitier family.
Cesária Évora
Director:
Ana Sofia Fonseca
Producer(s):
Ana Sofia Fonseca
Archive Producer/ Researcher:
Ana Sofia Fonseca Rosa, Teixeira da Silva
Archival Sources:
RTCV – Rádio Televisão de Cabo Verde, Videoteca Municipal de Lisboa, RTP – Radiotelevisão de Portugal, Institute Marquês de Valle Flor, Archive of Lusafrica
Production Company:
Carrossel Produções
Country of Production:
Portugal
Synopsis
World renowned performer Cesária Évora in a new and intimate documentary. With previously unseen footage and insights into the singer's life, the film follows her struggles and success. Cesária's voice took her from poverty to stardom but her only dream was to be free.
