’PRESIDENT’ RELEASED IN JAPAN

More news from Japan! Last week we could announce that Olha Zhurba’s ‘Outside’ has won a Japan Prize of Honor. This time we are thrilled to share that Camilla Nielsson’s 2021 film President has now been released in Japan. Several cinemas are taking up the film, and still counting.

In ‘President’ Zimbabwe is facing the 2018 election which will be an ultimate test for the two opposing sides, and which will determine the future of the country in a post Mugabe era. Nelson Chamisa, new leader of the opposition party, MDC, is challenging the old guard, ZANU-PF, represented by acting president Emmerson Mnangagwa.

’President’ premiered on Sundance Festival in January 2021. We are happy that more countries are releasing the film – most recently Japan.

'PRESIDENT' BANNED IN ZIMBABWE

We are sad to announce that The Government of Zimbabwe has slapped a ban on our Oscar-shortlisted documentary, PRESIDENT, by Camilla Nielsson. The reason for the ban is based on the argument that the film “has the potential to incite violence” as Zimbabwe gears up for presidential elections in 2023.

In an exclusive article published by Variety on August 8, film director, Camilla Nielsson and producer, Signe Byrge Sørensen comment upon the ban and how it’s a clear example of a growing crackdown on dissent by the Zimbabwean government.

Click her to read the full article from Variety.

These are very sad and disturbing news, however we are unfortunately not surprised with the verdict, and we continue to fight and challenge the ruling in Zimbabwe’s constitutional court, promising a long legal battle ahead.

While we wait for a solution on this critical censorship, PRESIDENT is in the meantime having it’s release across the U.S. on PBS’ POV documentary series on August 8.

'HE'S MY BROTHER' AND 'PRESIDENT' SELECTED FOR POV LINEUP

We are proud and happy to announce that He’s My Brother directed by Cille Hannibal and co-director Christine Hanberg and produced by Monica Hellström and President directed by Camilla Nielsson and produced by Signe Byrge Sørensen and Joslyn Barnes has been selected for the 35th Season Lineup at POV.

POV is the longest-running series for independent documentaries on television and launches on July 11th. As is tradition, the series will program social issues films topics including environmental justice, immigration and systemic inequity.

Read more about the 35th POV lineup here.

‘PRESIDENT’ NOMINATED FOR DANISH FILM ACADEMY AWARD

It is with great pleasure that we announce the nomination of President directed by Camilla Nielsson and produced by Signe Byrge Sørensen (Final Cut For Real) and Joslyn Barnes (Louverture Films) for the Robert Award in the category of Best Documentary. 

The documentary follows the presidential campaign trail in Zimbabwe during the decisive 2018 election. As the new leader of the opposition party MDC, Nelson Chamisa, challenges the old guard, ZANU-PF, represented by the acting president Emmerson Mnangagwa, the election will be the ultimate test for the country’s democratic practice in the post-Mugabe era – has Zimbabwe turned a new corner or is history bound to repeat itself?

The annual award ceremony is hosted by the Danish Film Academy in celebration of the best Danish film and television of the year gone by. The Robert Award nominees and winners are selected by the over 2000 members, all of whom are members of the Danish film and TV industry.

The award ceremony will be held on February 5th 2022.

To see the full list of nominations, visit www.filmakademiet.dk

'PRESIDENT' SHORTLISTED FOR FEATURE DOCUMENTARY ACADEMY AWARD

We are so overjoyed and grateful that Camilla Nielsson’s documentary film President has been shortlisted for the Feature Documentary Academy Award.

The shortlist contains 15 films, which will be narrowed down to 5 nominated films on February 8, 2022, and the 94th Academy Awards Ceremony will take place on March 27, 2022.

So we’ll keep our fingers crossed for the next couple of months!

President is produced by Signe Byrge Sørensen for Final Cut for Real, and Joslyn Barnes for Louverture Films (US). The film is co-produced by Anne Köhncke and Anita Rehoff for Sant & Usant (NO) for Sant & Usant (NO).

Executive Producers are Thandiwe Newton, Susan Rockefeller, Danny Glover and Tone Grøttjord-Glenne.

The film is produced with the support of The Danish Film Institute, Danida, International Media Support, EU’s Media Program Creative Europe, The Norwegian Film Institute, Fritt Ord, Nordisk Film og TV Fond, Enterprise Fund, Ford Foundation, Bertha Foundation, Sundance Documentary Program, DR, SVT, NRK, ZDF Arte, BBC, VPRO, ERR, RTV & Ceska TV.

Read more about ‘President’ here.

Click here to see the full shortlist announcement

'PRESIDENT' U.S. THEATRICAL RELEASE IN NEW YORK AND LOS ANGELES

On December 16 Camilla Nielsson’s Sundance-winning documentary President, produced by Signe Byrge Sørensen and Joslyn Barnes, had its U.S theatrical premiere, distributed by Greenwich Entertainment.

The film was warmly received by the press, reviewed by The New York Times and Los Angeles Times, both highlighting the film as riveting and outstanding, being “one of the year’s best nonfiction films”!

Each of the reviews can be found here:
The New York Times
Los Angeles Times

'FLEE' WINS GOTHAM AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY

We are so excited that Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated documentary film ‘Flee’, produced by Monica Hellström and Signe Byrge Rasmussen has won the Gotham Award for Best Feature Documentary Monday night at the awards ceremony in New York City.

‘Flee’ wasn’t the only Final Cut for Real production represented at the awards ceremony. Camilla Nielssons's award-winning film ‘President’ was competing in the same category. We wish both of our directors a huge congratulations on their honorable achievements!

The Gotham Awards ceremony was held on November 29 and is one of the leading honors for independent film and television and provides acknowledgment to groundbreaking independent films and television series.

‘FLEE’ AND ‘PRESIDENT’ AT THE CINEMA EYE HONORS 2022

We are super proud that ‘Flee’ directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, produced by Monica Hellström & Signe Byrge Sørensen is nominated in nothing less than seven categories at the 15th annual Cinema Eye Honors!

Furthermore, Camilla Nielsson’s ‘President’ produced by Signe Byrge Sørensen is nominated in the category for Outstanding Achievement in Production!

The Cinema Eye Honors are recognizing outstanding artistry and craft in nonfiction or documentary filmmaking and include awards for the disciplines of directing, producing, cinematography and editing. The ceremony will take place at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens on January 13, 2022.

CAMILLA NIELSSON RECEIVES THE 'ROOS' AWARD

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On Thursday evening, following the annual documentary seminar at the Danish Film Institute, DOKDAG 2021, director Camilla Nielsson received the Roos award, which acknowledges an extraordinary contribution to Danish documentary film.

The selection committee (Head of the Danish Film institute Claus Ladegaard, Head of the Documentary Unit Ane Mandrup, and last year’s recipient KG Film’s post production guru Anders V. Christensen) gave the following motivation:

“At a time when democracy is being challenged in several Western countries and our neighbours on the other side of the Baltic Sea are curtailing independent courts, Camilla Nielsson's film reminds us that democracy is a fragile entity that is extraordinarily difficult to build. Political rulers do not readily relinquish power, and Zimbabwe's recent political history is the narrative of a sham democracy and the consequences when institutions are not free and independent.

Camilla Nielsson’s method is the NOW, the observing now, where the audience experiences what she experiences behind the camera. She insists on being present when the action unfolds over several years, closely following the task of writing a new constitution in ‘Democrats’, or uninterrupted for several months as during filming of the presidential election in Zimbabwe in ‘President’.

At the same time, she has a completely unique ability to capture the intense drama in political negotiations, in the polite exchanges and administrative processes, which helps to make her film fundamentally thrilling from start to finish.

Camilla Nielsson invests all of her cinematic talent and all of herself to give audiences access to Zimbabwe's political reality as it unfolds for the people, far from the Western press and election observers.

Camilla Nielsson is uncompromising and fearless - both during filming, when she risks everything to capture systematic repression, and after filming, when she sues Robert Mugabe, who banned her film in Zimbabwe.

With 'Democrats' and 'President', Camilla Nielsson writes history. She writes Zimbabwe's recent political history, she writes film history with her unique approach and her epic observant political thriller method, and she writes the history of democracy, thereby making it relevant to anyone who either longs for democracy or takes democracy for granted - and this is why she receives this year's Roos Award. “

Of course we at FCFR wholeheartedly agree with the selection committee’s decision and motivation, and congratulate Camilla with the award - it is extremely well deserved!

Previous recipients of the Roos Award includes Signe Byrge Sørensen, producer at Final Cut for Real, Janus Billeskov Jansen, editor and head of the board of Final Cut for Real, and frequent FCFR collaborators Jon Bang Carlsen, Niels Pagh Andersen, Lars Skree, Henrik Bohn Ipsen and Anders V. Christensen.

Click here to read more about the award in this article from the Danish Film Institute (in Danish)

'PRESIDENT' TO BE RELEASED IN NORTH AMERICA BY GREENWICH ENTERTAINMENT

We are happy to announce that Camilla Nielsson’s Sundance winning documentary film President will be distributed in North America by Greenwich Entertainment, aiming for a US theatrical release in December 2021.

Deadline.com has interviewed director Camilla Nielsson and she says the following about the release: “A film like President is only possible when many, many people in front of and behind the camera agree to collaborate on all levels. […] I think you can see clearly from the film, the intense and dangerous challenges that were presented in a situation where transparency and accountability are suppressed by those seeking to maintain an unjust status quo. The Zimbabwean crew members cannot be named in the credits for security concerns right now, but it is our shared goal to situate the people in the film in an ethical relationship with the people viewing it. We’re really excited that Greenwich will be bringing the film to theatres in the US, bringing people together to share and reflect on the lived experience of others working so hard for the establishment of strong democratic institutions, while some Americans are currently attempting to break their own.”

Click here to read the full article at Deadline.com

THANDIWE NEWTON JOINS TEAM OF 'PRESIDENT' AS EXEC PRODUCER

Photo by Gage Skidmore

Actress and activist Thandiwe Newton has joined the team of Camilla Nielsson’s Sundance award-winning documentary feature film President, as an executive producer.

Newton, whose family has its roots in Zimbabwe, says of the film: “Zimbabwe needs this film like a body needs oxygen. It has the potential to save lives, liberate the oppressed, and discover truths. There is no better purpose for filmmaking, than this.”

We are proud to welcome Thandiwe Newton to the team and look forward to working with her.

Click here to read more ( link to Variety)

'PRESIDENT' WINS BEST INTERNATIONAL DOC AT IT'S ALL TRUE

We are so happy that Camilla Nielsson’s new feature documentary President has won the award for Best International Documentary at the wonderful It’s All True / E Tudo Verdade Film Festival in Brazil!

Click here to see a full list of winners at the 2021 edition of It’s All True.