Leading US independent A24 is closing its documentary department, producer of recent features including The Last Of The Sea Women and Steve McQueen’s Occupied City, Screen Daily has confirmed.
The closure will result in five lay-offs at the company, though division head Nicole Stott and head of documentary production Emily Osborne will stay in their roles while they finish work on current projects.
The company will continue to handle recently completed documentary films including Architecton and Andre Is An Idiot and to work on in-production projects such as Danny and Michael Philippou’s film on the world of deathmatch wrestling.
A source suggested the move is a response to challenging conditions in the documentary business and added that A24 is not ruling out working with filmmakers on future documentary projects.
Other recent documentaries on which the division has worked include Sean Fine and Andrea Nix’s The Sixth, Look Into My Eyes, The Deepest Breath and Morgan Neville’s two-part Steve Martin project for AppleTV+ Steve!. Earlier projects from the division included 2015 Oscar winner Amy and 2021’s Val.
A24’s recent narrative feature releases have included Warfare and The Brutalist. The company’s upcoming release slate includes Celine Song’s Materialists, Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest.
The news about A24’s documentary pull back is another blow to the US documentary business, coming a year after important US documentary and narrative feature backer Participant closed down its entire operation.
The A24 news was first reported by Variety.
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