At its core, The Witness is a tale of suspense. The reader is drawn into a dangerous place inhabited by the Russian mob and crooked cops. A good outcome is never guaranteed. Abigail’s safety is threatened as much by the gangsters as it is by law enforcement who insist they can protect her. The Witness is perhaps Nora Roberts best and most successful romantic suspense novel, which is saying something considering the dozens we have to choose from. Its a long novel, as her romances usually are, but every word is thought-through and every sentence exactly in its place.

15 DOCUMENTARY FEATURES ADVANCE IN 2016 OSCAR RACE

The Witness 2014 Video Game

Posted: Tuesday, December 6, 2016 – 12:15

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 15 films in the Documentary Feature category will advance in the voting process for the 89th Academy Awards®. One hundred forty-five films were originally submitted in the category.

The 15 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies:

“Cameraperson,” Big Mouth Productions
“Command and Control,” American Experience Films/PBS
“The Eagle Huntress,” Stacey Reiss Productions, Kissiki Films and 19340 Productions
“Fire at Sea,” Stemal Entertainment
“Gleason,” Dear Rivers Productions, Exhibit A and IMG Films
“Hooligan Sparrow,” Little Horse Crossing the River
“I Am Not Your Negro,” Velvet Film
“The Ivory Game,” Terra Mater Film Studios and Vulcan Productions
“Life, Animated,” Motto Pictures and A&E IndieFilms
“O.J.: Made in America,” Laylow Films and ESPN Films
“13th,” Forward Movement
“Tower,” Go-Valley
“Weiner,” Edgeline Films
“The Witness,” The Witnesses Film
“Zero Days,” Jigsaw Productions

The Academy’s Documentary Branch determined the shortlist in a preliminary round of voting. Documentary Branch members will now select the five nominees from among the 15 titles.

Nominations for the 89th Oscars® will be announced on Tuesday, January 24, 2017.

BEST FILM OF 2016 LISTS:

New York Magazine (David Edelstein)
The New Yorker(Richard Brody)
NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross
Yahoo! Movies
SF Weekly(Marilyn Connolly)
Capital Times/Madison, WI(Rob Thomas)
The Ringer(K. Austin Collins)
amNewYork(Robert Levin)

BEST DOCUMENTARIES OF 2016 LISTS:

The Hollywood Reporter(THR Staff)
Vogue(Julia Felsenthal)
The Playlist(Katie Walsh & The Playlist Staff)
Filmmaker Magazine(Paula Bernstein)
Indiewire(Kate Erbland)
The Boston Globe (Peter Keough)
National Post(Chris Knight)
Filmspotting(Adam Kempenaar)
Films etc. (Ted Hicks)
WOR Radio(Joe Neumaier)
*Nominated for 2 BFCA Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards*
*Best Documentary Feature*
*Best First Documentary Feature*

Film synopsis
Kitty Genovese became synonymous with apathy after news that she was stabbed to death on a New York City street while 38 witnesses did nothing.

Forty years later, her brother decides to find the truth. He uncovers a lie that transformed his life, condemned a city and defined an era.

The Witness Nora Roberts

In the News

Critics’ Pick: A Brother’s Quest to Put Kitty Genovese Case to Rest

James Solomon’s seamless documentary, “The Witness,” traces the yearslong efforts of Ms. Genovese’s younger brother Bill, who was close to Kitty, to get to the bottom of what actually happened. Read more…

Goings On About Town: Movies

This extraordinary documentary looks at one of the most infamous of all modern crime stories—the 1964 murder, in Queens, of Kitty Genovese, while her screams were reportedly ignored by dozens of neighbors—through the focus of another genre, the personal documentary. Read more…

Searching for the Truth About Kitty

What constitutes a big film? James Solomon’s stunning documentary was produced on a tiny fraction of a Hollywood spectacular’s budget, and its audience will be small, at least at first. Yet it topples what we’ve come to accept as a pillar of contemporary wisdom, and brings news about human nature in the process. By any sensible measure that’s big indeed. Read more…

The Lie of Kitty Genovese’s Murder Lives on as an Allegory of Urban Despair

Near the conclusion of the astonishing new true-crime documentary The Witness, William Genovese hires a woman to play his sister That sister was Kitty Genovese, and her 1964 murder outside her home in Kew Gardens, Queens, was the moment New York City’s post-war glory faded for good, ushering in a more ominous epoch. Read more…

‘The Witness’ powerfully revisits the murder of Kitty Genovese

One of the key accomplishments of this quietly revelatory documentary is that it sees the people in this tragedy as more than just convenient scapegoats or symbols. Read more…

How Everyone Got the Kitty Genovese Story Wrong

The movie is as gripping as true-crime procedurals “Serial” and “Making a Murderer,” but with more intimacy and heartache. Read more…

Our 20 Favorite Movies of the Year So Far

The film sheds unexpected light on the myth of the apathetic bystander but doesn’t ignore the shadows that lurk behind all the dead ends. Read more…

‘The Witness’ Tells A Different Story About The Kitty Genovese Murder

The Witness 2018

NPR’s Scott Simon interviews James Solomon and Bill Genovese on Weekend Edition Saturday. Read more…

Kitty Genovese Case: What History Got Wrong

Kitty Genovese’s 1964 murder long symbolized urban apathy, but a new film by her brother challenges the long-held belief that nobody tried to help her. Read more…

Huffington Post Review: The Witness

I thought this film was impeccably done. It was not only a tragedy, but a love story about family who never give up and who mark their lives with the efforts of what they could do to change “it,” if they could change “it.” Read more…

The Witness: EW review

The film’s title takes on a haunting irony once you realize that it refers to Bill, who was not an onlooker to Kitty’s killing, but to the world in which her name was deformed and gained its tragic legend. Read more…

‘The Witness’ Exposes The Myths, Misconceptions Of Kitty Genovese’s Murder

A new documentary revisits Genovese’s 1964 murder and the 38 bystanders who allegedly did nothing to stop it. Critic John Powers says the film is “a useful moral corrective” to the popular narrative. Read more…

The Witness Searches for Truth in the Kitty Genovese Story

The Witness paints a picture of a complicated, magnetic woman tragically cut down in her prime. But the film, as its title suggests, is largely about Kitty’s brother, left behind to bear witness… Read more…

Resurrecting Kitty Genovese: A Love Story

The brother of Kitty Genovese tracks down some of the witnesses to his sister’s infamous death in an attempt to get the whole story of her life. Read more…

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