dawn porter – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

CIRQUE DU SOLEIL: WITHOUT A NET – Review by Lois Alter Mark

July 20, 2024July 25, 2024 Lois Alter Mark Amazon MGM Studios, Bellagio, Cirque du Soleil: Without a Net, Daniel La Marre, dawn porter, documentary, las vegas, pandemic

Anyone who has ever “ooh”-ed and “ah”-ed over a Cirque du Soleil show – that means the more than 215 million people in 70 countries who have seen one – will feel like they’ve been given a backstage pass to the magic, thanks to this intimate documentary. In Cirque du Soleil: Without a Net, filmmaker Dawn Porter takes viewers behind the curtain to see how the sausage is made – specifically O, which was forced to come to a complete halt in March 2020 when the pandemic hit. Cirque du Soleil was forced to lay off 3400 performers and declare bankruptcy. When, 400 days later, they’re given the okay to go back to work, they have eight weeks to prepare for the relaunch of the show.

Festivals Reviews

LUTHER: NEVER TOO MUCH (Sundance FF 2024) – Review by Leslie Combemale

January 23, 2024January 28, 2024 Leslie Combemale Carlos Alomar, dawn porter, Fonzi Thornton, Luther: Never Too Much, Robin Clark, Sundance FF 2024

Even after the popular Brit-crime TV show Luther, starring Idris Elba, aired, the moniker LUTHER meant only one thing. To this day, the name virtuosic singer/producer/songwriter Luther, Luther Vandross that is, belongs to a rare group of stars that the world knows using even just one name. Now documentarian Dawn Porter, who is responsible for award-winning films Bobby Kennedy for President, John Lewis: Good Trouble, and The Lady Bird Diaries, tells the story of Vandross’s formative early years, his career, and his adult life, in Luther: Never Too Much. A colossal talent lost before his time when he died of complications from a stroke and heart trouble at 52, the performer deserves every moment he and his genius is remembered onscreen.

Festivals

Sundance FF 2024: Ten Female-Directed Documentaries on our Watch List – Leslie Combemale Reports

January 18, 2024January 20, 2024 Leslie Combemale Asmae El Moudir, dawn porter, documentaries, female directed films, lana wilson, lucy lawless, Luther Vandross, Margaret Moth, sundance 2024 preview, Sundance Film Fest 2024

Although female directors usually find a much more hospitable home in documentary filmmaking, it’s still an incredibly challenging field. Fortunately Sundance is one festival in which female helmed and female focused documentaries are given a voice. A full 50% of documentaries being shown in the US Documentary Competition were directed by one or more filmmakers who identify as a woman, and even more impressive, 60% were directed by one or more who identify as a person of color. Six of the 9 films in the World Documentary Competition were directed by one or more artists who identify as women. We perused the list of premieres so our readership can get as excited as we are about what’s coming to Sundance. Five out of 10 are available to watch digitally during the fest, so buy your tickets now!

Festivals Reviews

THE LADY BIRD DIARIES (Middleburg FF 2023) – Review by Leslie Combemale

October 30, 2023November 10, 2023 Leslie Combemale Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson, dawn porter, First Lady, Lady Bird Diaries, Lady Bird Johnson, Middleburg FF 2023, Middleburg Film Festival

You may or may not know that when you’re driving the highways of America, you can thank Lady Bird Johnson for those pretty wildflowers in the median strip. What else, though, do we know about Lady Bird? Director/producer Dawn Porter wants to give us a fuller picture of President Johnson’s enigmatic First Lady. Based on the biography Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight, the film utilizes the 123 hours of audio diaries Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson left behind after her death. The film utilizes the 123 hours of audio diaries Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson left behind after her death. Unbelievably, those recordings chronicle some of the most tumultuous times in US history, and Lady Bird Diaries plays them against footage and photographs of the time. Audiences hear the woman’s perspective on some truly momentous American events, in her own voice and with her own words.

News

WEEK IN WOMEN: Dawn Porter directs Cirque du Soleil documentary – Brandy McDonnell reports

July 9, 2021July 11, 2021 Brandy McDonnell Cirque du Soleil, covid-19 pandemic, dawn porter, documentaries, MGM Television, the week in women, twiw

Director Dawn Porter is joining forces with MGM Television to produce a feature documentary about Cirque du Soleil as the live entertainment company makes a comeback after the COVID-19 pandemic forced it to shutter operations and declare bankruptcy. The documentary will provide a behind-the-scenes look at Cirque du Soleil’s resurgence after the most difficult period in the global circus’ history.

Reviews

RISE AGAIN: TULSA AND THE RED SUMMER – Review by Pamela Powell

June 8, 2021June 13, 2021 Pamela Powell CeLillianne Green, dawn porter, DeNeen Brown, documentaries, John W. Franklin, Rise Again: Tulsa and the Red Summer

Dawn Porter’s Rise Again, feeling as much like a mystery as an historical documentary, educates us and empowers us with awareness and understanding. History should not repeat itself and we must learn from it. Porter’s film is a pointed example of this perspective.

Reviews

THE WAY I SEE IT – Review by Martha K Baker

October 14, 2020October 14, 2020 Martha K. Baker (Archived Contributor) 0 Comments barak obama, dawn porter, documentaries, ronald reagan, The Way I See It, white house photographer

Long before Pete Souza became the Official White House photographer for President Barak Obama, he served in the same capacity for President Ronald Reagan. The two jobs and the two Presidents were very different. Souza responded in kind. For Pres. Obama, Souza had top-secret clearance plus total access to the President.

Reviews

THE WAY I SEE IT – Review by Brandy McDonnell

September 24, 2020September 27, 2020 Brandy McDonnell 0 Comments dawn porter, documentaries, Pete Souza, The Way I See It

Featuring interviews with Souza’s family, former cohorts in both administrations and historians, the film, like its subject, argues fiercely that Trump lacks the character, empathy and leadership for the role of president, warning voters that the president is a real person and that choosing one as a means to the end results in Americans getting the kind of bad leaders they deserve.

Reviews

JOHN LEWIS: GOOD TROUBLE – Review by MaryAnn Johanson

July 20, 2020July 22, 2020 MaryAnn Johanson 0 Comments dawn porter, John Lewis, John Lewis: Good Trouble

I awoke last Saturday morning to the news that US Congressman, civil-rights activist, and absolute badass legend John Lewis had died. This is bad and sad for all the usual reasons, but also because we still need him. His work is not yet done — far from it. It’s all so damned tragic, and absolutely enraging.

Reviews

JOHN LEWIS: GOOD TROUBLE – Brandy McDonnell reviews

July 13, 2020July 13, 2020 Brandy McDonnell 0 Comments black lives matter, dawn porter, documentaries, John Lewis: Good Trouble

Serving his 17th term as a member of Congress, the Georgia Democrat, 80, has spent more than six decades fighting for equality for Black Americans, from marching with Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Alabama, where he was badly injured by police officers, to getting on the bus as one of the original “Freedom Riders” who protested against segregation in transportation.

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