Hope you are doing well as the New Year approaches. I’m excited to share some news about my current and upcoming films.

HOLLYWOODGATE shortlisted for the Oscars!

Ibrahim Nash'at’s documentary on the aftermath of the US war, occupation and withdrawal from Afghanistan and the rise of the Taliban, has been shortlisted for an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature!

The film has had an incredible journey in the past year and a half. After premiering at Venice and Telluride in 2023 (one day and half a world apart!), the film has gone on to screen at festivals and play in theaters around the world, win awards at Full Frame and Zurich, and open up opportunities for talks at the European Parliament, conversations with Afghan refugees, and so much more.

I’m so grateful to have been part of the team on Hollywoodgate, alongside Ibrahim and Shane Boris, Odessa Rae, Talal Derki, Diane Becker, Marian Tuor, Atanas Georgiev, Adel Safi, and so many other wonderful people, and I’m also incredibly proud that we’ve done all this work as an independent production - truly no small feat, done with the help of an incredibly talented, big team, led by Fourth Act Film.

And if you still haven’t had a chance to see the film, you can rent it on Jolt.

LANDSCAPES OF MEMORY pitched at DOC NYC

And at a time when it’s harder than ever to get documentaries - especially independent, artistic and critical ones - into the world, I’m grateful for the growing circle of support for this film, which will be so crucial for bringing it to audiences. This film’s reckoning with the weaponization of Holocaust memory only becomes more salient every day, as we see it being wielded to shut down pro-Palestine solidarity in Germany and the US with growing force.

The film also just received a grant from New York State Council on the Arts. I’m very appreciative for the continued existence of public arts funding!

HUMBOLDT USA work-in-progress screens at Maysles Documentary Center

We had the tremendous opportunity to share a work-in-progress excerpt of G. Anthony Svatek’s feature film, Humboldt USA, at Maysles Documentary Center last week, as part of a screening of new works by Anthony. It was exciting to see the film on the big screen for the first time, and start to imagine what it’ll be like in theaters.

We’re underway on the edit for the film - an essayistic exploration of American environmentalism in three places named for Alexander von Humboldt - and hope to bring it to the world next year.

Hope you have a great end to this year, and I’d love to hear from you about what exciting things you’ve got planned for 2025!

All the best,
Elijah Stevens