C21 Media: "Dana Springer helps set up Engel doc arm"

New York City-based Engel Entertainment has launched a new division specializing in the development and production of documentary films.

The new arm will operate under the joint leadership of senior VP Jenna Helwig and independent filmmaker Dana Springer, who has joined Engel’s documentary film team as co-executive producer.

Engel Entertainment is the producer of long-running Animal Planet shows North Woods Law and Lone Star Law, as well as A&E’s Alaska PD.

The division has launched with a slate of projects including Tomboy, which was selected for the 2020 South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas, and Missing in Brooks County, an Independent Television Service coproduction with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

This October, Missing in Brooks County will premiere at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival in Arkansas as well as the 2020 United Nations Association Film Festival, which will feature a select group of 60 documentaries from 39 countries.

Co-directed by Jeff Bemiss and Lisa Molomot, and coproduced by Jacob Bricca, Bemiss and Molomot, Missing in Brooks County follows the journey of two families searching for loved ones who disappeared in Texas.

Brooks County is a barren area in the state about 70 miles north of the Mexican border where an estimated 3,000 migrants have vanished or lost their lives since 2008.

Steven M Engel, Helen D ‘Heidi’ Reavis, Stephanie Angelides and Jenna Helwig are executive producing for Engel Entertainment.

Shot over a five-year period, Tomboy follows four female drummers fighting to leave their mark in a stereotypically masculine field. The film is directed by Lindsey Lindenbaum, produced by Eleanor Emptage and executive produced by Engel, Reavis, Springer and Kara Smith.

Springer, who officially joined Engel Entertainment at the end of February, has previously executive produced several award-winning documentary films and directed Sea Change, which was produced in association with Engel Entertainment.

Nico Franks, C21Media