SELECTED PRESS


DEADLINE

Film Independent Sets Six For 2022 Screenwriting Lab

Film Independent has set Lanre Olabisi (A Storybook Ending), Sari Arambulo (Family Style), Sanford Jenkins (Joy and Pain), Rob Connolly (Lavender Country), Elise H. Greven (Silent Spring) and Phumi Morare (There is Salt in the Water) as the participants and projects for its 2022 Screenwriting Lab.

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VARIETY

Disney Directing Program Participants Guaranteed to Direct Episodes of Major TV Shows for the First Time.

Disney General Entertainment’s directing program is putting its money where its Mouse is: on the actual screen. For the first time, participants in the Disney Directing Program will be given guaranteed slots to direct episodes of some of the studio’s biggest shows, including ABC’s “Black-ish,” Freeform’s “Good Trouble” and FX’s “Snowfall.”

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WARNER MEDIA

HBO Announces Winners of the 2020 HBOAccess Directing Fellowship

HBO has selected the ten winning emerging directors to participate in the newly revamped 2020 Directing Fellowship. The ten directors will take part in a series of masterclasses with top industry speakers.

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WARNER MEDIA ENTERTAINMENT

Subverting Stereotypical Depictions Through Filmmaking.

Lanre Olabisi is an independent filmmaker whose films have screened in over 70 festivals, including SXSW and the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. Below, he shares how a retired African-American tennis player inspired his short film A Storybook Ending.

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THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Diverse Directors Workshops Push Production and Move Online Mid-Pandemic: “We’re Undaunted”

HBO is also delaying selecting three fellows from the 10 fellowship finalists to produce pilots with the company until the second year of the program.

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CINEMACY

Review: Somewhere in the Middle

Olabisi manages to craft something that feels fresh and unique and plays with our understanding of cinema in how we view individual scenes compared to how we view a complete movie.

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VARIETY

Review: August the First

Already well-traveled and prized on the U.S. fest circuit, dramatically satisfying pic transcends ethnic pigeonholing to emerge as a fine calling card for frosh helmer Lanre Olabisi.

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SHADOW AND ACT

'Somewhere In The Middle' Campaign Beats The Odds, Raises Over $100,000 via Kickstarter

Just a quick update on a Kickstarter film project campaign I featured about a month ago. I highlight it especially, because the campaign did something that very few others have been able to do - raise over $100,000.

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popMATTERS

Review: Somewhere in the Middle

Olabisi’s script is well-mapped out; the storylines of each character is thoroughly engaging and cleverly intersect with a precision that’s clean and elegant.

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popMATTERS

Review: August the First

Lanre Olabisi’s first feature offers an intricate portrait of relationships and individuals, histories and hopes.

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HAMMER TO NAIL

Netflix Gems: August the First

Shot with a gentle naturalism in long, loose hand-held takes, Lanre Olabisi’s Gotham Award-nominated August the First recounts the college graduation party of Tunde…

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