Zeitgeist Films has just acquired Miralan Productions’ SOMETHING VENTURED which looks at the early investors behind the revolutionary technology that created companies like Apple, Intel and Cisco and in the process completely changed our world.
Directed by award-winning filmmakers Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller (BALLETS RUSSES) and narrated by best-selling author Po Bronson, SOMETHING VENTURED will have its World premiere at this year’s South by Southwest Film Festival. SOMETHING VENTURED was Executive Produced by Miralan founders: Paul Holland, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist with Foundation Capital and the originator of the film, and Molly Davis, a founding partner with Rainmaker Communications.
Beginning in the late 1950’s a small group of high rollers fostered a one-of-a-kind business culture that encouraged extraordinary risk and made possible unprecedented rewards. They laid the groundwork for America’s start-up economy, providing not just the working capital but the guidance to allow seedling companies like Apple, Cisco, Intel, Atari and Genentech to reach their full potential. SOMETHING VENTURED tells the story of the creation of the industry that went on to become the single greatest engine of innovation and economic growth in the 20th century.
SOMETHING VENTURED also offers a peek into a lighter side of business, such as the famous entrepreneur deciding not to buy a third of Apple for $50,000 in 1977; venture capitalist Arthur Rock raising $3 million to start Intel with just a one-page, typo-filled business plan; and the first genetically engineered bacteria being transported from Los Angeles to San Francisco in a Genentech investor’s pocket.
Zeitgeist will release SOMETHING VENTURED to festivals and the educational market this Spring and Fall with a release to the TV and Home Entertainment markets to follow. Zeitgeist’s other Spring releases include Richard Press’ BILL CUNNINGHAM NEW YORK, Caroline Bottaro’s QUEEN TO PLAY and Lynn Hershman’s !WOMEN ART REVOLUTION. Margarethe von Trotta’s VISION starring Barbara Sukowa will be released on DVD in April.
[ source: press release}