Never Look Away (2024 film)

Never Look Away is a 2024 New Zealand documentary film, directed by Lucy Lawless.[1] The film is a portrait of Margaret Moth, a New Zealand photojournalist who was a longtime war reporter for CNN.[2]

Never Look Away
Film poster
Directed byLucy Lawless
Written byWhetham Allpress
Tom Blackwell
Lucy Lawless
Matthew Metcalfe
Produced byTom Blackwell
Lucy Lawless
Matthew Metcalfe
StarringMargaret Moth
CinematographyJenna Boss
Darryl Ward
Edited byWhetham Allpress
Music byJason Smith
Karl Sölve Steven
Production
companies
General Film Corporation
Ingenious Media
Distributed byGreenwich Entertainment
Kaleidoscope Films
Release date
  • 30 September 2024 (2024-09-30) (Sundance)
Running time
85 minutes
CountryNew Zealand
LanguageEnglish

The film premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.[3] It was subsequently screened at an extensive variety of international documentary and general interest film festivals, winning awards including the Jury Award at the Calgary Underground Film Festival, and runner-up for the Audience Choice award for documentaries at the 2024 Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival.[4]

Reception

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On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of 23 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.7/10.[5]

Joe Leydon of Variety wrote, "The thin line between cheating death and chasing it appears to have been smudged, repeatedly, by maverick video journalist Margaret Moth, the subject of first-time filmmaker Lucy Lawless' fascinating documentary Never Look Away. At least, that's the impression we're left with at the end of this compact yet complex portrait of a singularly and aggressively unconventional war correspondent who inspired equal measures of admiration and anxiety among her friends, colleagues and lovers throughout her 20 years of assignments in the world's trouble spots — Baghdad, Sarajevo, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Zaire, you name it, she was there — for CNN."[6]

References

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  1. ^ Tim Grierson, "‘Never Look Away’: Hot Docs Review". Screen Daily, 25 April 2024.
  2. ^ Joe Leydon, "‘Never Look Away’ Review: Lucy Lawless Directs Fascinating Documentary on Death-Defying Photojournalist Margaret Moth". Variety, 1 May 2024.
  3. ^ Pat Mullen, "Never Look Away Review: Courage Under Fire". Point of View, 18 January 2024.
  4. ^ "‘The Count of Monte-Cristo’ big winner at Cinéfest Sudbury". Sudbury.com, 27 September 2024.
  5. ^ "Never Look Away". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  6. ^ Leydon, Joe (1 May 2024). "'Never Look Away' Review: Lucy Lawless Directs Fascinating Documentary on Death-Defying Photojournalist Margaret Moth". Variety. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
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