‘Last Flight Home,’ ‘As Far as They Can Run’ Take Top Nonfiction Honors at Woodstock Film Festival 2022

Addie Morfoot
·5 min read

Two MTV Documentary films vying for Academy Awards attention — Ondi Timoner’s “Last Flight Home” and Tanaz Eshaghian’s short “As Far as They Can Run” — garnered the top nonfiction honors at the 23rd annual Woodstock Film Festival.

“Last Flight Home,” about Timoner and her family’s last days with her father, won the best documentary prize, while “As Far as They Can Run,” about disabled children in rural Pakistan who have been deemed “useless” by their communities, took home the fest’s best short documentary award.

More from Variety

“Last Flight Home” premiered at Sundance earlier this year before opening the Telluride Film Festival in September. This year marked Timoner’s first time at the Woodstock fest.

“The greatest joy I have is sharing my work in person,” Timoner told Variety. “The reason I make films is to impact people and this film is doing that more than any other film I’ve made.”

The five-day festival, which runs from Sept. 28 to Oct. 2 in New York’s Hudson Valley, about 100 miles north of Manhattan, also awarded narrative films, including Michael Goorjian’s “Amerikatsi,” Signe Baumane’s “My Love Affair With Marriage” and Nuhash Humayun’s “Moshari.”

In addition to “Last Flight Home” and “As Far As They Can Run,” MTV Documentaries, run by Sheila Nevins, had several other nonfiction films at the festival, including two features, David Greenwald’s “Afghan Dreams” and Patricia E. Gillespie’s “The Fire That Took Her,” as well as two doc shorts in Amy Bench’s “More Than I Want to Remember” and Cinque Northern’s “Angola Do You Hear Us?: Voices From a Plantation Prison.”

“The Fire That Took Her” producer Julie Goldman was in town for the film’s world premiere. The documentary details the landmark case around Judy Malinowski, then 31, who was doused in petrol and set on fire by her crazed ex-boyfriend. She was one of the first people to testify “from beyond the grave,” at the trial for her own murder.

“Sheila brought this film to our attention and we immediately knew that it was really important and could really add to this conversation about domestic partner abuse,” Goldman said.

“The Fire That Took Her” will be theatrically released on Oct. 21, which will qualify the documentary for Oscar consideration.

In addition to “Last Flight Home,” Woodstock 2022 featured other nonfiction films garnering Academy Award buzz, including Ramin Bahrani’s Showtime documentary “2nd Chance,” which premiered at Sundance 2022, and Sacha Jenkins’ Apple TV Plus feature “Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues,” which debuted last month at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Jenkins was at Woodstock with “Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues” producers Sara Bernstein and Justin Wilkes of Imagine Entertainment and Apple TV Plus head of documentaries Molly Thompson.

“This award season campaigning is all new to me,” said Jenkins. “I’m just going with the flow.”

“Woodstock’s proximity to New York City along with having numerous members of the doc industry living in the area, make it the perfect stop during awards season,” added Cinque Northern (“Angola Do You Hear Us?: Voices From a Plantation Prison”).

Several docs seeking distribution, including Jessica Edwards’ “Skate Dreams,” were also part of Woodstock’s documentary lineup.

“Woodstock is an important festival because of its sophisticated and knowledgeable audience in the Hudson Valley,” said Edwards. “There’s a huge film community up here. Directors, producers, distributors and Academy members live here. That’s all a filmmaker can hope for from a festival: supportive communities who are excited about their film.”

On Friday, Timoner, Bahrani, Oscar-winning director Roger Ross Williams (“The Apollo,” “Life Animated”) and Rodrigo Garcia (“Nine Lives”) participated in a panel about directing both documentaries and narratives.

About the life of Richard Davis, the man who invented the concealable bulletproof vest, “2nd Chance” is the first feature documentary that Bahrani (“99 Homes”) has directed.

“These young producers pitched me the story of Richard Davis as a narrative,” said Bahrani. “They were going to make the doc. When they started sending me the archival footage and I looked at it all and read more about Richard, it started to feel like Arthur Miller’s ‘All My Sons,’ but without the morality. I thought I rather make the doc. And they said okay.”

Ross Williams and panel moderator Geralyn White Dreyfous, co-founder of documentary fund Impact Partners, discussed the shifting doc landscape.

“We used to make these little indie films that we’d struggle to get made and spent years raising money for and now it’s all about celebrity,” said Williams. “Everyone from Cardi B to Janet Jackson to Lizzo all want a documentary. And it’s not a real documentary because it’s really a corporate video about who they are. I walked away from a lot of those projects.”

White Dreyfous added: “I’m very concerned about the corporate consolidation of all the streaming platforms.  I’ve seen the kind of cuts that are happening and bureaucracy’s not talking to each other. It’s getting a lot less fun to launch a film and get it out of the world and make sure that it’s marketed correctly. It troubles me to no end because there are a lot of films that aren’t being bought right now, and they are really good films.”

Best of Variety

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest Stories

  • Stock market today: Asian shares track Wall Streets rally, led by a 2.4% jump in Tokyo

    Asian shares have tracked Wall Street’s rally, led by a 2.4% advance for Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index powered by strong gains for semiconductor makers. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gained more than 900 points to close at 38,460.08, its highest level in a month. Shares in computer chip company Renesas Electronics Corp. jumped 10.5%, while rival Tokyo Electronic surged 7.1%.

  • FTSE 100 extends record run on earnings optimism

    The blue-chip FTSE 100 was up 0.4%, as of 0721 GMT. The benchmark was also on track for its sixth consecutive session of gains, what would be its first such winning streak since August 2023. Reckitt Benckiser jumped 4% after its quarterly like-for-like sales growth beat estimates and the consumer goods group said it was on track to meet full-year revenue and profit targets.

  • Lloyds sees profits slip but reassures City on outlook -- house prices to rise

    Britain’s biggest bank predicts three rate cuts this year

  • Liverpool XI vs Everton: Confirmed team news, predicted lineup, injury latest for Merseyside derby today

    Mohamed Salah leading stars hoping for a recall

  • Emily Henry representing her readers in the film adaptations of her books

    Two popular books by Emily Henry -- "People we Meet on Vacation" and 'Beach Read" -- are in the process of being made into films. Henry did not write the screenplays but says she does offer notes when she has them. (April 24)

  • Best mobile games to play now 2024 from Minecraft to Jetpack Joyride

    Need some ideas on what to play next on your phone?

  • Why autism and ADHD self-diagnosis may be inaccurate

    Every few months, 52-year-old Peter* would find himself in trouble with his wife. Sitting silently during an argument and unable to speak, he couldn’t process anything levelled at him. He didn’t know what was wrong, except noticing that he had a weird pattern of “getting stuck in a rut”, hyper-fixating on interests such as programming and PC gaming at the expense of spending time with his wife.

  • Olly Alexander to bring Eurovision magic to EastEnders

    This year's UK Eurovision entrant will make a surprise visit to Walford next month.

  • Bitter neighbour boundary dispute been settled in court - after raging for DECACES

    A bitter neighbour boundary dispute has been settled in court - after raging for DECADES. The row between two warring pensioners revolves around a quarter of an acre of disputed territory - with both parties saying it has cost them tens of thousands and affected their mental health. Angela Coupe, 70, claims she first bought 1.5 acres of land in 1972, a five minute drive from her detached bungalow in Chesterfield, which she used for horses in 1974. She built a wooden post along a concrete boundary which she said had been there since the 1930s. The retired social worker and former Marie Curie nurse said she was “horrified” when she caught her neighbour Ian Revell, 66, and his late father moving the posts in her field in the mid 1990s and approached them. She claims that she is entitled to 1.5 acres, and that the Revell family sold a quarter of an acre in 1945, leaving them with 0.77 of an acre. However, Mr Revell has refused to budge and hit back at her claims. He claims they are each entitled to one acre, meaning that Angela is currently encroaching by taking half an acre more than she is entitled to. For nearly 30 years the two families have been at loggerheads, but Southern Derby Magistrates Court has now ruled in favour of Mr Revell with a judge ruling his adversary had lied about putting up a fence. Following the verdict, Angela said she was "appalled" while Ian said it was only right as he claimed the plot had been in his family for years. Angela has levelled the land she believes she owns and placed the good soil inside her boundary for further use for the land. She has also now claimed Mr Revell trapped the top soil in when he moved the fence. She uses the land for her animals, including four rescue pigs.

  • Manchester United vs Sheffield Utd: Prediction, kick-off time, team news, TV, live stream, h2h, odds today

    Red Devils continue in chaotic fashion

  • Springwatch's Chris Packham and stepdaughter Megan McCubbin unite for heartwarming cause

    The duo are raising money for the Bat Conservation Trust and the Helping Rhinos charity as part of Big Give's Green Match Fund campaign

  • KPMG hires former prisoners amid battle to reduce crime

    One of Britain’s Big Four accountancy firms is hiring former prisoners as part of the Government’s push to cut reoffending rates.

  • Former Labour minister Frank Field dies aged 81 after cancer battle

    Frank Field was director of the Child Poverty Action Group between 1969 and 1979, and the Member of Parliament for Birkenhead between 1979 and 2019

  • Q1 2024 Nucor Corp Earnings Call

    Q1 2024 Nucor Corp Earnings Call

  • Ofcom issues warning over politician presenters ahead of general election

    The regulator said breaches could result in sanctions.

  • Yen's slide toward 160 level could trigger action, says senior ruling party official

    Japan's ruling party is not yet in active discussion on what yen levels would be deemed worth intervening in the market, though the currency's slide towards 160 to the dollar could prod policymakers to act, party executive, Takao Ochi, told Reuters. "There is no broad consensus right now, but if the yen slides further toward 160 or 170 to the dollar, that may be deemed excessive and could prompt policymakers to consider some action," Ochi said in an interview on Tuesday. Right now, however, there has been little active discussion on what yen levels would be deemed appropriate for such action, said Ochi, the secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) research commission on the finance and banking systems.

  • Dow Jones Futures: Market Rallies, Tesla Soars As Elon Musk Touts 'Affordable' EV, Robotaxi

    The rally attempt is gaining steam. Tesla soared as Elon Musk said "affordable" EVs will come in 2025 and touted robotaxis.

  • Lloyds profits drop 28% after bumper 2023

    The banking group's results showed it had made less money from loans and mortgages compared with last year.

  • Shogun, review: historical epic shows others how it’s done with a finale of grace and guile

    The original 1980 Shōgun mini-series was a romping epic featuring gratuitous beheadings and a hunky Richard Chamberlain wandering around looking confused. Disney+’s new adaptation of James Clavell’s best-selling chronicle of dynastic rivalry in 17th-century Japan is far more sparing in its use of violence. The only ones likely to be stumbling around perplexed, meanwhile, are viewers who failed to give this dense but ultimately gripping historical drama the necessary attention.

  • Brokerage Haitong removes long-term Hong Kong unit chief Lin, appoints new head

    Chinese brokerage Haitong Securities removed Lin Yong from chief executive of its Hong Kong-based offshore unit, according to an internal memo and a company source with knowledge of the matter. Lin, who had been Haitong International Securities' CEO in Hong Kong since 2007, was removed from the top post, according to the memo reviewed by Reuters. He is one of the longest-serving helmsman at any Chinese investment bank in Hong Kong, leading the offshore unit to become one of the banks that issued the most offshore high yield bonds of Chinese companies in the last decade.