Janus Films Acquires Nathan Silver’s ‘Carol & Joy,’ Plans Oscar Campaign for Natalie Portman-Backed Short Doc on Actress Carol Kane and Her Mother (EXCLUSIVE)
Janus Films has acquired all U.S. rights to “Carol & Joy,” a vérité documentary short featuring Oscar-nominated actress Carol Kane and her 98-year-old mother, Joy.
The film — directed by Nathan Silver (“Between the Temples”) — had its world premiere at the 2025 Telluride Film Festival and continued its fall festival run at the New York Film Festival, Hamptons International Film Festival and Woodstock Film Festival. It had its international premiere at the Viennale.
“Carol & Joy” will now debut exclusively on the Criterion Channel on Dec. 1, 2025. Janus will be supporting the film’s efforts for best documentary short category at the 2026 Academy Awards.
On New York’s Upper West Side, Kane lives with her 98-year-old mother Joy, an active music teacher, former dancer, and lifelong Francophile. In this intimate short vérité documentary shot on 16mm, the filmmaking team behind the acclaimed “Between the Temples” — for which Kane was recently nominated for a Spirit Award — visit the pair in their home for an afternoon of music and friends and stories.
The film is produced by Jamie Gonçalves (“Predators, “Dos estaciones”), C. Mason Wells (“Between the Temples,” “Thirst Street”), Dweck Productions’ Hannah Dweck and Theodore Schaefer (“Maddie’s Secret,” “The Adults”), and Brian Liebman (“Brats,” “The Featherweight”). Executive producers include Natalie Portman and Sophie Mas’ MountainA (“May December,” “Arco”) and Diane Lanyi (“Between the Temples”). The film was shot in the tradition of legendary cinema vérité makers Albert and David Maysles by Sean Price Williams (“Good Time,” “The Sweet East”) and Hunter Zimny (“Funny Pages”).
“We filmed Carol & Joy on 16mm in a single New York City apartment, using an observational and conversational style indebted to our verite nonfiction heroes from the ‘60s and ‘70s,” said Silver. “I think every one of the documentaries that inspired us is — of course! — in the Janus Films library and streaming on the Criterion Channel. It’s an unbelievable honor for our film to be welcomed to live alongside these greats in the same beautiful building.”
Kane’s career has spanned five decades. She was nominated for best actress at the Academy Awards for “Hester Street,” won two Emmy Awards and earned a Golden Globe nomination for her work on the television series “Taxi,” and garnered an Emmy nomination for “Chicago Hope.” She was also a series regular on the Netflix series “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” and “Hunters.”
“Between the Temples, which world premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival, was released by Sony Pictures Classics in 2024. The film was nominated for Best Screenplay at the Gotham Awards and won Kane the New York Film Critics Circle Award for best supporting actress.
Janus Films recently announced the acquisitions of Sophy Romvari’s acclaimed debut feature “Blue Heron,” Carla Simon’s 2025 Cannes selections “Romeria,” auteur Lav Diaz’s latest “Magellan,” the Cannes award-winning “Resurrection” from director Bi Gan, Hlynur Pálmason’s “The Love That Remains,” Sergei Loznitsa’s acclaimed “Two Prosecutors,” and Ira Sachs’ Sundance and New York Film Festival selection “Peter Hujar’s Day.”
