Welcome to our first monthly round-up of fact-based film and TV, featuring a selection of new cinema and streaming releases, projects in the works and other relevant happenings.
Cinema releases:
> Period biopic Jeanne du Barry is in UK cinemas from early May (also on Netflix in the US), following its showing at last year’s Cannes Film Festival: https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/jeanne-du-barry/
> Guy Richie’s action-packed WWII drama The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is in cinemas now. Here’s the trailer:
> The well-publicised Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black has been released in UK cinemas to mixed reviews, with a US release scheduled for May. Here’s the trailer:
Streaming:
> Real life-inspired stalker drama Baby Reindeer has started streaming on Netflix.
>True-crime series Under the Bridge is on Hulu in the US. Learn more about about the real-life events which inspired the show here: https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/under-the-bridge-true-story-reena-virk-murder-1235976672/
> Recently arrived on Apple TV+, eight-part mini-series Franklin explores Benjamin Franklin’s three years in France, during which he attempted to engineer the Franco-American alliance of 1778 in the years immediately following the American War of Independence.
> Scoop has made its debut on Netflix. It offers a fictionalised account of how the BBC’s Newsnight show landed an interview with Prince Andrew, in which he talked about his relationship with now-deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Here’s the trailer:
In the works:
> Bank of Dave: The Sequel is currently shooting in the UK ahead of a 2025 Netflix release. It follows self-made millionaire and community bank founder Dave Fishwick as he takes on pay-day lenders.
> Staring Colin Firth, Lockerbie tells of the US and Scottish investigation into the 1988 air disaster. The multi-part series from the BBC and Netflix is due for release next year.
Around the web:
> Socially-focussed production company Participant Media is closing down. The company was behind a number of important and award-winning fact-based ‘social issues‘ films, including Shirley (2024), Judas and the Black Messiah (2021), Green Book (2018) and Spotlight (2015). Source: Hollywood Reporter
> Baby Reindeer writer and creator Richard Gadd has been forced to ask viewers not to speculate on the identities of those involved in the actual events, as the people ‘identified’ have been the subject of social media abuse. It highlights one of the dangers of characterisation in fact-based screen stories. Source. BBC News
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