Weiner (film)

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Weiner
File:Weiner (film).png
Theatrical release poster
Directed by <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • Josh Kriegman
  • Elyse Steinberg
Produced by <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • Josh Kriegman
  • Elyse Steinberg
  • Julie Goldman
  • Christopher Clements
  • Carolyn Hepburn
  • Elizabeth Delaune Warren
  • Sean McGing
Cinematography Josh Kriegman
Edited by Eli B. Despres
Production
company
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Distributed by Sundance Selects Showtime
Release dates
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  • January 24, 2016 (2016-01-24) (Sundance Film Festival)
  • May 20, 2016 (2016-05-20) (theatrical)
Running time
 96 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Box office $1,702,489[2]

Weiner is a 2016 American fly-on-the-wall political documentary film by Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg about Anthony Weiner's campaign for Mayor of New York City during the 2013 mayoral election.

Synopsis

The documentary follows congressman Anthony Weiner and his wife[1] Huma Abedin, shortly after his 2011 resignation when scandalous photos of Weiner mysteriously appeared on his Twitter account.[3] The photos led to a tumultuous spiral as more and more pictures of the congressman in various states of undress began to leak to the public.[4] The documentary revolves around Weiner's attempted comeback from his initial resignation during his 2013 campaign in the Democratic Party primary for Mayor of New York City. His campaign goes well at first, with many New Yorkers willing to give him a second chance as evidenced in polls putting him at or near the top of a tight mayoral race.[5]

During the filming of the documentary, however, additional leaked photos and evidence of online sexual activity surface, including explicit text conversations with women and a teenaged child that occurred well after his 2011 resignation from Congress. The mood of the campaign switches from exuberance to pain. Intimate views are captured of Weiner, his wife and his campaign staff struggling with the new revelations and the media firestorm that ensues. Weiner's wife, an adviser to Hillary Clinton, comes under fire during the scandal.[6] The relationship between the couple becomes strained, and in a couple of instances, the camera is asked to leave the room.[7][8] Weiner's campaign manager quits when a press conference is held in which Weiner comes clean about his sexting, and his campaign begins to take a downward spiral. Weiner comes in fifth place in the polls, garnering only 4.9% of the popular vote.[9]

People

People documented in the film include:

  • Anthony Weiner
  • Huma Abedin, his wife[2] and a close aide to Hillary Clinton
  • Sydney Leathers, one of Weiner's online sex partners, who attempts to confront him on election night
  • Barbara Morgan, Weiner's communications director
  • Camille Joseph, Weiner's campaign manager
  • Amit Bagga, Weiner's senior advisor
  • Maura Tracy, Weiner's senior staffer
  • Andrew Noh, Weiner's campaign aide

The film also features archival footage from:

Release

The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2016. It was released theatrically in the United States in May 2016 and broadcast on Showtime in October 2016. Starting in June 2014, the film began releasing internationally in the UK, Netherlands, Scandinavia, Australia, and Japan, and television broadcasts in Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Israel, Belgium, and Holland.[citation needed] The film received an R rating from the MPAA for language and some sexual material.

Upon release, Anthony Weiner declined to endorse the film and claimed he had no intention of ever seeing the final product, saying "I already know how it ends."

After the film was released, Weiner claimed that "Kriegman had assured him verbally and in emails that he would not use Abedin in the film without her consent", and that Abedin never granted permission for Kriegman to use the footage. When asked if he will sue the filmmakers, Weiner didn't give a definitive answer. The filmmakers disputed Weiner's claim, stating that they clearly "had consent from everyone who appears in the film, including Anthony and Huma."[10]

Reception

Critical reception

The film received near universal acclaim by critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 97% of Lua error in Module:Rotten_Tomatoes_data at line 72: invalid escape sequence near '"^'. reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Weiner uses sharp insight and untrammeled access to offer a portrait of a political and personal collapse that's as queasy as it is undeniably compelling."[11] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 84 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[12]

Wendy Ide of The Observer gave it four out of five stars, writing: "Edited to perfection, this is like watching the slow-motion footage of a building collapsing. Weiner’s long-suffering wife, Huma Abedin … is a key sympathetic presence in the film. But it is Weiner himself, a likable narcissist with an Olympic capacity for vanity and self-delusion, who is every documentary-maker's dream subject."[13]

Brian Lowry of CNN wrote: What Weiner makes painfully clear is the collateral damage of Weiner's actions, not merely on his wife but those who believed in and devoted their energy to his campaign. To that extent, it's possible to share his politics and still see him as a fatally flawed vessel for them.[14]

Box office

The film performed decently, earning a worldwide box office total of $1,751,120 on an unknown budget. Of that $1,751,120, the film made $1,675,196 domestically and $75,924 internationally. On a per-theater average, the film made about $16,835 per screen.[15]

Best of lists

Accolades

Award Category Recipients and Nominees Outcome
Alliance of Women Film Journalists Awards Best Documentary Weiner Nominated
American Cinema Editors Eddie Awards Best Edited Documentary Feature Eli B. Despres Nominated
Austin Film Critics Association Best Documentary Weiner Nominated
Australian Film Critics Association[25] Best Documentary Film (Local or International) Weiner Nominated
Awards Circuit Community Awards Best Documentary Feature Film Weiner Nominated
British Academy Film Awards Best Documentary Weiner Nominated
Central Ohio Film Critics Association Best Documentary Weiner Nominated
Champs-Élysées Film Festival Prix du jury Weiner Won
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards Best Documentary Weiner Nominated
Chlotrudis Awards Best Documentary Weiner Nominated
Cinema Eye Honors Awards Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking Weiner Nominated
Outstanding Achievement in Editing Eli B. Despres Nominated
Cinema Eye Audience Choice Prize Weiner Nominated
The Unforgettables Huma Abedin, Anthony Weiner Won
Critics' Choice Documentary Awards Best First Documentary (Theatrical Feature) Josh Kriegman, Elyse Steinberg Won
Best Documentary Feature Weiner Nominated
Best Political Documentary Weiner Nominated
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards Best Documentary Weiner Nominated
Denver Film Critics Society Best Documentary Film Weiner Nominated
Detroit Film Critics Society Best Documentary Weiner Nominated
Directors Guild of America Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary Josh Kriegman & Elyse Steinberg Nominated
Dublin Film Critics Circle Awards Best Documentary Weiner Won
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards Best Documentary Weiner Nominated
Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association Documentary of the year Weiner Nominated
Georgia Film Critics Association Best Documentary Film Weiner Nominated
Gotham Awards Audience Award Weiner Nominated
Best Documentary Weiner Nominated
Grierson British Documentary Awards Best Cinema Documentary Weiner Won
Hamburg Film Festival Political Film Award Weiner Nominated
Houston Film Critics Society Awards Best Documentary Feature Weiner Nominated
Indiana Film Journalists Association Best Documentary Weiner 2nd place
Indiewire Critics Poll Best Documentary Weiner Nominated
Best First Feature Josh Kriegman, Elyse Steinberg Nominated
International Documentary Association Best Feature Weiner Nominated
Iowa Film Critics Awards Best Documentary Weiner 3rd place
Jerusalem Film Festival Best International Film Weiner Nominated
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards Best Documentary Weiner Nominated
Montclair Film Festival David Carr Award for Truth in Non-Fiction Filmmaking Weiner Won
Bruce Sinofsky Prize for Documentary Feature Weiner Nominated
New Hampshire Film Festival Audience Choice – Documentary Weiner Won
North Carolina Film Critics Association Best Documentary Film Weiner Nominated
North Texas Film Critics Association Best Documentary Weiner Nominated
Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Awards Best Documentary Weiner 2nd Place
Online Film Critics Society Awards Best Documentary Weiner Nominated
Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards Best Documentary Film Weiner Nominated
San Diego Film Critics Society Awards Best Documentary Weiner Won
Sarasota Film Festival Special Jury Prize - Unprecedented Look at Politics in Crisis Weiner Won
Seattle Film Critics Awards Best Documentary Weiner Nominated
St. Louis Film Critics Association Best Documentary Feature Weiner Nominated
Sundance Film Festival U.S. Grand Jury Prize – Documentary Weiner Won
Television Critics Association Outstanding Achievement in News and Information Weiner Nominated
Utah Film Critics Association Awards Best Documentary Feature Film Weiner 2nd place
Village Voice Film Poll Best Documentary Weiner Nominated
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards Best Documentary Weiner Nominated
Women Film Critics Circle Awards Worst Male Images in a Movie Weiner Nominated
Zurich Film Festival Best International Documentary Film Weiner Nominated

Notes

1.^ Abedin and Weiner separated in 2017.[26]

References

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External links

Awards
Preceded by Sundance Grand Jury Prize: U.S. Documentary
2016		 Succeeded by
Dina
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