CATCHING FIRE: THE STORY OF ANITA PALLENBERG is about a woman who was at many points in her life a newspaper headline: Anita Pallenberg was a "rock 'n' roll goddess," a "voodoo priestess," and an "evil seductress." She was accused of trying to break up the Rolling Stones, among other things. But those who loved her considered her an exciting cultural force, and a loving mother – and innocent of the accusations. Never-seen-before home movies and family photographs explore life with the Rolling Stones and tell a bittersweet tale of both triumph and heartbreak. From Barbarella to the Swiss Alps, and the Lower East Side to London, Anita Pallenberg was a creative force ahead of her time. (Source: Magnolia Pictures)
Magnolia Pictures
Festival de Cannes
Cannes Classics
2023 Official Selection
Premieres May 3, 2024
Directors: Alexis Bloom, Sveltana Zill
Editors: Hannah Vanderlan, Adam Evans
A deep dive into the lives of high-school students in three radically disparate communities as they navigate the pressures around college while staging a musical, until seismic events upend their dreams and expectations.
Premiered on HBO November 29, 2022
Executive Producer: Nancy Abraham
Directors: Ricki Stern, Anne Sundberg
Editor: Hannah Vanderlan
Explores questions that have been contemplated throughout time: What does it mean to die, and is death the end of our existence? Weaving together innovative new research with firsthand accounts from those who’ve been close to death.
Premiered on Netflix January 5, 2021
Directors: Ricki Stern, Jesse Sweet
Editors: Hannah Vanderlan, Patricia Sunshine
Executive-produced by Alex Gibney, the documentary shares the remarkable story of Elian Gonzalez, the 5-year-old Cuban boy plucked from the Florida Straits on Thanksgiving Day in 1999. After his mother and others perished at sea, the custody battle between Gonzalez's Cuban father and Miami-based relatives sparked a flash point for simmering post-Cold War U.S. and Cuban tensions.
2017 Tribeca Film Festival Official Selection
Directors: Tim Golden, Ross McDonnell
Producer: Trevor Birney
Editors: Michael J. Palmer, Hannah Vanderlan
From Emmy-winning director Blair Foster and Academy Award and Emmy-winning producer Alex Gibney, “The Clinton Affair” examines the events leading up to the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton. The series features never-before-seen archival footage and exclusive new interviews with those closest to the events including Monica Lewinsky.
Producer: Alex Gibney
Director: Blair Foster
Editors: Chad Beck, Anoosh Tertzakian, Hannah Vanderlan
Filmed over four years. Taken from 1200 interviews. New York City, one story at a time.
Creator: Brandon Stanton
Series Executive Producers: Christopher Clements, Michael Crommett, Kira Dane, Marissa Torres Ericson, Julie Goldman, Carolyn Hepburn, Brandon Stanton
Series Film Editors: Adam Bolt, Keiko Deguchi, Michael Peterson, Brandon Stanton, Hannah Vanderlan
A documentary thriller about warfare in a world without rules— the world of cyberwar. The film tells the story of Stuxnet, self-replicating computer malware (known as a “worm” for its ability to burrow from computer to computer on its own) that the U.S. and Israel unleashed to destroy a key part of an Iranian nuclear facility, and which ultimately spread beyond its intended target. It’s the most comprehensive accounting to date of how a clandestine mission hatched by two allies with clashing agendas opened forever the Pandora’s Box of cyberwarfare. ZERO DAYS is a cautionary tale of technology, power, unintended consequences, morality, and the dangers of secrecy.
Premiered at the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival
2016 Berlin International Film Festival Golden Bear Nominee
2016 Critics Choice Documentary Awards Best Political Documentary Nominee
2017 Shortlist for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature
2017 Peabody Award
Director/Producer: Alex Gibney
Producers: Sarah Dowland, Marc Shmuger
Director of Photography: Antonio Rossi
Editor: Andy Grieve
Co-Editor: Hannah Vanderlan
Based on the book by Pulitzer Prize winner Lawrence Wright, GOING CLEAR profiles eight former members of the Church of Scientology, whose most prominent adherents include A-list Hollywood celebrities, shining a light on how the church cultivates true believers, detailing their experiences and what they are willing to do in the name of religion.
Premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival; aired on HBO in March 2015
2015 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special
2015 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming
2015 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming
2016 Peabody Award
2016 Shortlist for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature
2016 Writers Guild of America Award for Best Documentary Screenplay
Director/Producer: Alex Gibney
Executive Producer: Sheila Nevins
Supervising Producer: Sara Bernstein
Producers: Kristen Vaurio, Lawrence Wright
Director of Photography: Sam Painter
Editor: Andy Grieve
Additional Editor: Hannah Vanderlan
Following many years of estrangement, twins Milo (Bill Hader) and Maggie (Kristen Wiig) have an unexpected reunion after a set of near-tragedies. The situation forces them to confront how their lives became so broken. For Maggie, it means examining why she's so unhappy in a marriage to a loving husband. For Milo, it means meeting with his first love to see if their romance can reignite. Eventually, they learn that living truthfully and accepting each other is the only way to move forward.
Premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2014
2014 Sundance Film Festival Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award
2014 National Board of Review Top Ten Independent Films
2014 Women Film Critics Circle Awards Best Equality of the Sexes Award
Director: Craig Johnson
Writer: Craig Johnson, Mark Heyman
Executive Producers: Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass, Jared Goldman
Producers: Stephanie Langhoff, Jennifer Lee, Jacob Pechenik
Cinematography: Reed Morano
Cast: Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Luke Wilson, Ty Burrell
Editor: Jennifer Lee
Associate Editor: Hannah Vanderlan
On a February day in 1969, off the shore of northern California, a US Navy crane carefully lowered 300 tons of metal into the Pacific Ocean. The massive tubular structure was an audacious feat of engineering — a pressurized underwater habitat, complete with science labs and living quarters for an elite group of divers who hoped to spend days or even months at a stretch living and working on the ocean floor. The Sealab project, as it was known, was the brainchild of a country doctor turned naval pioneer who dreamed of pushing the limits of ocean exploration the same way NASA was pushing the limits of space exploration. As Americans were becoming entranced with the effort to land a man on the moon, these divers, including one of NASA’s most famous astronauts, were breaking depth barrier records underwater. Sealab tells the little-known story of the daring program that tested the limits of human endurance and revolutionized the way humans explore the ocean.
DIRECTOR: Stephen Ives
PRODUCER: Amanda Pollak
EDITOR: Hannah Vanderlan
NARRATOR: Michael Murphy
ORIGINAL SCORE: Peter Rundquist
In association with American Experience
An unfiltered look at the former First Lady of ISIS, Tania Joya, who for twelve years was married to John Georgelas, the highest ranking American in ISIS.
Premiered on Discovery+ October 13, 2022
Director: Ricki Stern
Editor: Hannah Vanderlan
Meet the dirtiest cop in New York City history. In the 1980s, Michael Dowd patrolled the mean streets of one of the toughest precincts in Brooklyn. He also headed a ruthless criminal network that stole money and drugs, ultimately resulting in the city's biggest ever corruption scandal.
Premiered at 2014 DOC NYC
2014 Nominated for the DOC NYC Metropolis Grand Jury Prize
2015 Nominated for the Edinburgh International Film Festival Best Documentary Feature Film
Director: Tiller Russell
Executive Producer: Stephen Lambert
Producers: Eli Holzman, Aaron Saidman, Sheldon Yellen
Cinematographer: Igor Martinovic
Editors: Chad Beck, James Carroll
First Assistant Editor: Hannah Vanderlan
Pioneering the journey from rhythm and blues to funk, James Brown forever changed the face of American music. MR. DYNAMITE follows the journey of Brown as he escaped his impoverished Southern roots to become the biggest name in soul music, and one of the most important music talents of the 20th Century. The film utilizes never-before seen concert footage and photographs, interviews of Brown from a variety of sources (including vintage TV series like The Mike Douglas Show and Soul Train), and recent insights from band members and others who knew and were influenced by the singer, to tell the remarkable story of this supremely gifted and enormously influential American musical icon.
Premiered on HBO in October 2014
2014 Peabody Award
2015 Black Reel Awards Outstanding Television Documentary or Special
Director: Alex Gibney
Executive Producers: Alex Gibney, Dan Brooks, Mike Singer, Eric Wider
Producers: Mick Jagger, Victoria Pearman, Peter Afterman, Blair Foster
Cinematographers: Maryse Alberti, Antonio Rossi
Editors: Geeta Gandbhir, Maya Mumma
Additional Assistant Editor: Hannah Vanderlan
In the frozen woods of an isolated Maine logging town, one woman's tragic mistake shatters the balance of the community, resulting in profound and unexpected consequences. Weaving together several connected story lines, BLUEBIRD explores the profound and transcendent effects of a tragedy on an isolated American town.
Premiered at 2013 Tribeca Film Festival
Director/Writer: Lance Edmands
Producers: Kyle Martin, Garret P. Fennelly, Alexander Schepsman
Cinematographer: Jody Lee Lipes
Editors: Lance Edmands, Dino Jonsäter
Additional Editor: Hannah Vanderlan
