Latest in Cartel Land

BREAKING: The Orchard is promising filmmakers full transparency during the lifecycle of their films, allowing them to see the revenue and expenditures from the beginning to the end of any film that the company acquires or distributes. If the company follows through with this, it will be something that filmmakers…

You'd be forgiven for assuming documentary filmmaker Matthew Heineman has a background in war reporting, given the nature of his work on the Oscar-nominated Cartel Land. We follow Heineman–who is also the cinematographer–as he dodges bullets, rides along with a gunpoint interrogation and films a meth-cooking operation…

Director Matthew Heineman put his life on the line for his art with his drug cartel documentary Cartel Land, which won awards for cinematography and directing at the Sundance Film Festival in January and recently landed a spot on Oscar’s feature documentary shortlist. Cartel Land, distributed by The Orchard and…

Some people did make it to theaters this weekend, undistracted by trick-or-treating and the World Series. Alchemy spread a little Love in two theaters, easily taking the weekend’s best theater average, grossing over $30K from two runs. Oscilloscope bowed The Wonders in a single showing taking in $7,500, while Music…

EXCLUSIVE: Distributor The Orchard has released on-demand figures for its documentary Cartel Land, a likely strong contender as awards season ramps up. Altogether, the Sundance Film Festival 2015 debut by Matthew Heineman, has amassed an estimated $550K in just two weeks on VOD. The company also said its VOD gross for…

The late Amy Winehouse drew big crowds to cinemas over the holiday weekend with one of the biggest debuts of any specialty release this year and certainly in the top tier for any documentary. In just six theaters, A24’s simply titled Amy grossed just over $222K for a robust $37,002 per-theater average, by far the…

The Orchard acquired North American rights to the Matthew Heineman docu Cartel Land, which won the Sundance Directing Award and Special Jury Award for Cinematography in the docu competition. It’s a multi-platform release in concert with A&E IndieFilms. It’s about a battle between border vigilante groups and murderous…

Beta Cinema market has announced its Berlinale line-up including one of the festival’s big premieres, the Nazi resistance drama 13 Minutes (Competition – Out of Competition) from director Oliver Hirschbiegel (Oscar-nominated Downfall).  In addition, among Beta Cinema’s pre-sale titles is the $15M Emma Watson-Daniel…

UPDATED with details and quotes: The Sundance Film Festival awards ceremony tonight in Park City saw a dramatic dual decision and strong political voices to put a cap on a hot-deals festival. Like last year, when Whiplash took both the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award on its way to an Best Picture…