Four of the most successful documentaries of recent years remain in contention for a prize beyond box office glory—the kind that comes with an Oscar trophy.  Won't You Be My Neighbor?, RBG, Three Identical Strangers and Free Solo all made the Oscar documentary shortlist as the Academy culled the list of 166 eligible…

Oscar-winning director Morgan Neville’s critically praised documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor has been slotted for premiere on HBO on February 9. In addition, HBO will honor Fred Rogers' contribution and commitment to public television with a special presentation of the film on PBS' Independent Lens, coinciding with…

RBG, Three Identical Strangers, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Hal, Into the Okavango and twin climber titles The Dawn Wall and Free Solo have been nominated for the Producer Guild’s 2019 Documentary Motion Picture award. The winner will be announced January 19 at the PGA Awards at the Beverly Hilton, among the cappers to…

The Motion Picture Academy did away with creating an Oscar category for 'popular movie' that would have allowed voters to select a Best Picture and a best box office hit. But in the documentary category there's no need to choose between popular success and artistic merit: Some of this year's top contenders offer…

The winners for the third annual Critics' Choice Documentary Awards were announced Saturday with Morgan Neville’s Won’t You Be My Neighbor? taking the top honor of Best Documentary. The winners were determined by members of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) and the Broadcast Television Journalists Associati…

The International Documentary Association is out with the nominees for its 2018 IDA Documentary Awards. Winners of the 34th edition will be announced December 8 duyring a ceremony hosted by Ricki Lake at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles. See the full list of nominees below. Up for Best Feature — which has been…

The perilous attempt by climber Alex Honnold to become the first person ever to scale and solo climb Yosemite’s 3000 foot high El Capitan Mountain with no ropes or safety gear is chronicled in the documentary Free Solo, a film that has climbed the list of nominees with six nods (and one honor) for the 2018 Critics Choi…

Two very different Focus Features titles, Morgan Neville’s Mister Rogers doc Won’t You Be My Neighbor? and the British period piece Mary Queen of Scots have their own touch when it comes to history. Neville was drawn to Fred Rogers’ oddity, but there was something greater in the PBS children’s talk show host: “He’s a…

Tom Hanks stepped out of his trailer to show off his signature Mister Rogers cardigan look in the untitled upcoming biopic about the beloved children’s TV host (see the first-look photo below). The TriStar film is based on the true story of a friendship between Fred Rogers and journalist Tom Junod. Per the official…

John Krasinski, Steve McQueen and Won't You Be My Neighbor? director and producer Morgan Neville are among the directors, writers and producers taking part in “masterclass” presentations at the Producers Guild of America’s Produced By: New York 2018 even in November, the PGA announced today. The daylong event is set…

Successful documentaries stand out any year because with the possible exception of highly-produced non-fiction fare about political advocacy, cute animals or legendary rock stars, they are often viewed as particularly big gambles, even for veteran distributors hardened by the shifting whims of the box office. Of…

For anyone who might not have noticed, we're in the midst of a Fred Rogers moment. Won't You Be My Neighbor?, Morgan Neville's film about the late children's television pioneer, climbed above the $22 million mark at the box office over the weekend, continuing its run as one of the most successful documentaries of…