When we received a review from Cinematic Dog Blog, I kind of hoped that the critic was canine. Alas, no. Still, CDB is Fido-focused, with reviews and more about man’s best friend appearing in everything from Sex and the City to The Thin Man. There’s even a list of the Top 20 Dog Movies of All Time (which, bless their poodle-loving hearts, our film A Boy and His Dog is on). You can check out Cinematic Dog Blog here.

We received the following letter in response to our recent theatrical release Without the King, a documentary about Africa’s last absolute monarchy in Swaziland.

“My name is [deleted], a journalist from Swaziland. As you may be aware, your film Without the King has really changed things around in Swaziland. Not only has it caused tension within the royal household, but it has woken up those who always have thought Swaziland was the Switzerland of Africa.

While one cannot show the movie in public here, you can be sure that it is moving, and pretty fast. The Nation, a monthly magazine, has written about it in its June edition and dedicated four pages to previewing it and are now regretting it. Word has it that the king is not happy about it and we wait with bated breath to see what will happen. Even though main stream media cannot write anything about your movie The Nation has done what no one dared thought of.

I can assure you that this movie achieved what it would have taken years to achieve in Swaziland and people now realise the urgent need to change our barbaric and archaic system of governance. I have read comments about the film on the internet and they are very encouraging with only a few people calling our freedom fighters terrorists.

How I wish you had been in Swaziland in the recent 10 months to witness the growing impatience with the regime and the desire for the people of Swaziland to be free. History will forever remember you for what you did for Swazis and sooner rather than later the people of Swaziland will be shouting freedom and you will have contributed in no small measure.”

Without the King will be released on DVD on July 22.

Producer Sandi DuBowski (Trembling Before G-d) and director Parvez Sharma at a screening of A Jihad for Love at the 58th Berlin International Film Festival, February 8, 2008. The film, which explores the intersections between Islam and homosexuality, will open in New York at the IFC Center on May 21, 2008. In the meantime, you can keep tabs on the film at the director’s blog. Photo by Aseem Chhabra.

After 49 years in power, Cuban president Fidel Castro today announced that he is stepping down as the nation’s leader. His reign spanned ten U.S. presidencies, and - love him or hate him - the man is undeniably one of the most influential figures of our time. We’ve had the pleasure of releasing two remarkable (read: controversial) documentaries on Castro in recent years. Fidel: The Untold Story features exclusive interviews with Castro and casts him in a uniquely sympathetic light, while the Cuban-made Moments with Fidel employs a wealth of archival footage to create an equally kind portrait of his rule. Biased as these films may be (and infuriating as some may find such bias), both offer an important counterpoint to the pervasive (and just as infuriating, imho) anti-Castro propaganda infecting the American news media. (And if that’s not reason enough for you, there’s some pretty crazy footage of Fidel going for a swim with his bodyguards. You can’t tell me you’re not curious about that.)

Filmmaker Alex Gibney, who directed Taxi to the Dark Side and produced No End in Sight, just may be America’s greatest documentarian. Not a small statement, I know, but with two out of the five Best Doc Oscar noms this year and a stellar track record (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and many, many more), it’s not a hard argument to make. I had the great honor of releasing a film he made with Eugene Jarecki called The Trials of Henry Kissinger. Eugene’s last film, as you may know, was Why We Fight - he’s no couch potato either. But Alex is my choice for Best Doc Filmmaker of This Century So Far. He’s also a heck of a nice guy, and I hope he wins the Oscar. Check out his company’s site here, a funny blog entry asking “Is Alberto Gonzales Stupid?” here, and look out for his latest doc about Hunter S. Thompson, which just premiered at Sundance.

And Baby Makes Two chronicles a journey that today, ten years later, has become almost commonplace. Single mothers, fathers, and others of all ages and categories are having and bringing up children on their own (and discussing it here).

A decade later, we decided to check in on three of the mothers in the film, as well as their now articulate offspring. And the truth is, it ain’t so easy being a single mom, but whether it has harmed or helped the lovely children is too hard to tell. Either way, their story is more bittersweet than ever, so please watch this feature - ten years later - and let me know what you think.

Oren writes: 

“Most people don’t know that after the holocaust several hundred thousand Polish Jews survived. And most people don’t know that in 1968 the 100,000 or so who remained were hounded out in an anti-semitic government campaign. After that only 5,000 or so Jews and a lot more half or quarter jews remained. When I went back there in 1985 to record a bar mitzvah, apparently the first public one in Poland since the war, I didn’t know that i was entering a battleground between the Orthodox and the Reform, or that I would meet some incredible Jewish survivors there. Or that the Polish people would prove to be so friendly. After that first trip, I would go on to make many films in Poland, including Hiding and Seeking and A Life Apart and others.

Now, 22 years have passed and the Bar Mitzvah boy is 35 years old. That hurts. I reinterviewed all the key players and what is amazing is that many of them used the same words and have exactly the same feelings they expressed 22 years ago. What was most fun, was interviewing the filmmakers, including myself. If you watch Spark Among the Ashes, please make sure to watch the interviews of 22 years later. And please help me answer the question or tell me what you think of the Polish people and the on-going battle between the Orthodox and Reform Jews. Whose form of Judaism will survive and will the Polish people ever be forgiven for their attitudes toward the Poles?”

Several years ago a great film called Aberdeen came to us, starring Stellan Skårsgard, one of our favorite actors. In Aberdeen he plays an alcoholic jerk, a father who ditches his family for booze. The actress who plays his daughter (Lena Headey) is what really sold us on the film. Beautiful, yes, but also tough and smart and brave. We stuck her on the poster for Aberdeen, and it’s been a pretty big hit for us. Meanwhile, Ms. Headey, no surprise, has moved on to bigger projects, including Queen Gorgo in the mega-hit 300, and now the lead in the new Fox series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. We always knew she was destined for stardom, and we’ll be slavishly following her career for a long while.  In the meantime, check her out in Aberdeen, her first big role.

Anyone who caught our big hit For the Bible Tells Me So undoubtedly walked away amazed and inspired by the story of Gene Robinson, the courageous Episcopalian priest whose elevation to Bishop-hood triggered what appears to be the biggest religious schism since that fellow Luther nailed his Theses to the Wittenburg church door. Now Gene is about to publish his tell-all book, aptly titled In the Eye of the Storm. I’m probably not the first to say it, but this man deserves to be TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year. (So if you work at TIME please mention it to whoever makes that decision. Also, my issues have been arriving a little late; please ask about that, too.)

What do Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Wiesel and best-selling author Thomas Moore have in common? They all want you to FORGIVE! Yes, learn how to forgive and be healed. Seriously. Our award-winning documentary, The Power of Forgiveness, has just been bought by PBS and will broadcast in March. But why wait and why settle for the one-hour version when we’ve got the DVD, featuring the entire original film and some insightful bonus materials to boot?