Documentary
Salma to screen at Documentary Edge Film Fest in Auckland
MUMBAI: Kim Longinotto’s film Salma is one of the first five names announced for screening at the Documentary Edge Film Festival 2013, an international documentary film festival in Auckland, New Zealand.
The film is the story of thirteen year old Salma, a Muslim girl in a South-Indian village who is locked up by her family for 25 years. She is not allowed to study and forced into a marriage. She covertly takes up composing poems on scraps of paper. Eventually she escapes and lands up in the hands of a publisher. Salma becomes a celebrated Tamil poet, discovering her own freedom and challenging the traditions and code of conduct in her village.
Other films that would also screen at the festival are – Unraveled (USA) by Marc H Simon, How to Survive a Plague (USA) by David France, The Russian Winter (USA) by Petter Ringbom and Her Master’s Voice (UK/USA) by Nina Conti.
The festival will be held from 10 to 21 April while another edition of the festival will run in Wellington from 8 to 19 May.
Documentary
Netflix and Warner Music ink landmark documentary deal
The streaming giant has just unlocked one of the richest vaults in music history. Its rivals should be worried
CALIFORNIA AND NEW YORK: Netflix and Warner Music Group have signed an exclusive multi-year deal to produce documentary series and films drawn from the label’s storied artist roster, the companies announced on Friday — a move that hands the streaming platform access to one of the most formidable catalogues in music history.
Warner Music Group represents legends including David Bowie, Cher, Fleetwood Mac, Aretha Franklin and Joni Mitchell, alongside contemporary superstars such as Charli XCX, Coldplay and Bruno Mars. That is a staggering breadth of material for a platform hungry for prestige content and subscriber growth to match.
Under the agreement, Warner Music will work with Unigram, the production company aligned with the label, which will serve as the studio for its long-form projects. Each title will be developed in collaboration with the artists themselves or their estates, ensuring the kind of intimate access that turns a documentary into an event.
The deal reflects an intensifying race between music-rights owners and streaming platforms eager to turn deep catalogues into premium visual content. Music documentaries have become a vehicle for fan-driven, culturally resonant programming — a trend underscored by Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” film, which grossed over $260 million globally and reminded every platform chief just how lucrative the genre can be.
Netflix already boasts formidable credentials in music storytelling, with “Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé” and “Quincy” among its highest-profile releases. The Warner deal sharpens that edge considerably. Rival platforms have not been idle: Disney+ has released “The Beach Boys”, while Max has drawn attention with “Stax: Soulsville U.S.A.” Apple Music, meanwhile, has pushed into original content through its Apple Music Live series, producing documentaries and livestreamed concerts featuring Harry Styles and Billie Eilish.
The battle for music’s visual soul, then, is well and truly on. Netflix has just made its boldest move yet.
