Documentary

Alex Gibney’s New Docu Series “Dirty Money” to Debut on Netflix on January 6 | Trailer

Dirty Money, from Academy Award-winning director Alex Gibney, is a thrilling six-part investigative series that provides an up-close and personal view into untold stories of scandal and corruption in the world of business. Using first-hand accounts from perpetrators and their victims, combined with rarely-seen video footage, Dirty Money is sure to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. “Dirty Money” will debut globally on Netflix on January 26, 2018. Episodes and directors include: HARD NOx (Directed by Alex Gibney) – Gibney reveals shocking new details about VW’s corporate deceit, and exposes the unholy alliance between governments and automakers that allowed the automaker to put tens of thousands of lives at risk — all for the sake of a $500 part. PAYDAY (Directed by Jesse Moss) – Targeting unsuspecting Americans, a group of payday lenders made millions off small loans with undisclosed charges, inflated interest rates and incomprehensible rules. But the way the laws are written, is that a crime or just business? DRUG SHORT (Directed by Erin Lee Carr) – Wall Street short-sellers expose a scam that regulators overlook: how Big Pharma gouges patients in need of life-saving drugs. CARTEL BANK (Directed by Kristi Jacobson) – For decades, HSBC, one of the world’s largest banks, laundered hundreds of millions of dollars for Mexican drug cartels. Senator Elizabeth Warren, dogged journalists and prosecutors try to hold the bankers to account. But will they be judged “too big to jail?” THE MAPLE SYRUP HEIST (Directed by Brian McGinn) – In Canada, maple syrup is worth more than oil. When $20 million of syrup goes missing, the trail leads back to an epic battle between cartels and the little guy. THE CONFIDENCE MAN (Directed by Fisher Stevens) – A rollicking profile of the rise and reign of TRUMP Inc. Weaving together a tapestry of tales in real estate booms and busts, Stevens lays out how Donald Trump’s business career transformed from epic failures into a consummate branding machine that propelled him into office. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsplLiZHbj0
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VIDEO: Watch Trailer for Sundance 2018 Doc ANOTE’S ARK Directed by Matthieu Rytz

The trailer and poster premiered for Sundance 2018 doc Anote’s Ark directed by Matthieu Rytz. Anote’s Ark is the first feature doc to be shot in the Republic of Kiribati, an island nation in the Pacific Ocean that will gradually disappear with rising sea levels, which may grant it’s citizens the unfortunate title of first climate refugees in history. Anote’s Ark is the first feature film directed by Matthieu Rytz, filmmaker and photographer specialized in visual anthropology. After initially being exposed to the plight of a people about to see their very land disappear during a visit to the Kuna Yala archipelago in 2012, Matthieu Rytz decided to document the lives of the citizens of Kiribati. He thus follows the country’s president, Anote Tong, on his journey through international halls of power and climate conferences leading up to COP21. He attempts to get his message heard loud and clear by political and economic leaders while fighting to protect his people, as numerous people in Kiribati are already seeking refuge abroad. Anote’s fight is thus intertwined with the extraordinary fate of Tiemeri Tiare, a young mother of six who decides to relocate to New Zealand with her family. Through both of these portraits, Matthieu Rytz explores issues related to the survival of Tiemeri Tiare’s family, of the population of Kiribati as a whole and of 4,000 years of Kiribati culture. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE2_maYEqF8
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Watch Trailer for Brett Favre’s New Concussion Documentary “Shocked: A Hidden Factor in the Sports Concussion Crisis”

[caption id="attachment_26364" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Brett Favre[/caption] “Shocked: A Hidden Factor in the Sports Concussion Crisis” a new documentary short, Executive Produced by Brett Favre, in partnership with KMG Media, will premiere on the new 24/7 multiplatform sports network, Stadium, on January 11, 2018, at 6:30 p.m. ET. “Shocked” sheds light on Favre’s career-ending head-to-turf concussion and explores what preventative measures can be taken to make the playing environment safer for all athletes at all skill levels. “Shocked” takes an intimate look at Brett’s career and his concerns for the future, and parallels the experience with Gracie Hussey – a 17-year-old girl living with Post Concussion Syndrome from head-to-turf injuries suffered when she was thirteen. Shocked unveils deeply personal stories, supported by interviews with leading researcher, John Sorochan, Ph. D. of the University of Tennessee – Turfgrass Research Center, the President of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, Chris Nowinski, Ph.D., and others. There are between an estimated 1.6 and 3.8 million sports-related concussions in the United States every year, leading The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to conclude that sports concussions in the United States have reached an epidemic level. One in every five of those concussions is directly a result from a head-to-turf collision. Immediately preceding the debut of “Shocked” on January 11, Brett Favre will appear on Stadium’s signature studio show, “The Rally,” at 6:00 p.m. ET, discussing his involvement in the documentary. Shocked will re-air several times throughout the month of January on the Stadium network. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9prordVz3nY
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MAY IT LAST: A PORTRAIT OF THE AVETT BROTHERS, Produced and Directed by Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio, sets HBO Premiere Date

The documentary “May It Last: A Portrait of the Avett Brothers,” an inside look at the North Carolina band, produced and directed by Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio, will debut Monday, January 29, 2018, on HBO. Founded by Scott and Seth Avett and Bob Crawford in 2001, The Avett Brothers have gone from obscurity to critical acclaim and sold-out tours, experiencing profound heartbreak and exceptional joy along the way. Filmed with extensive access over more than two years, May It Last: A Portrait of the Avett Brothers is an inside look at the North Carolina band, from its origins to a recent collaboration with legendary record producer Rick Rubin (Johnny Cash, Jay Z, Beastie Boys, Dixie Chicks) on the Grammy-nominated album “True Sadness.” The film depicts a lifelong bond and unique creative partnership, as band members experience marriage, divorce, parenthood, illness and the challenges of the music business, offering a meditation on family, love and the passage of time. Featuring a wealth of original footage of the Avetts in the studio, on the road and at home, previously unseen family photographs and home movies, never-before-heard original songs and rousing concert performances, the intimate film includes revealing interviews with Scott (banjo, lead vocals) and Seth (guitar, lead vocals) Avett, band members Bob Crawford (bass), Joe Kwon (cello), Tania Elizabeth (fiddle), Paul Defiglia (keyboards) and Mike Marsh (drums), Rick Rubin and friends and family. MAY IT LAST shows how the ties between Scott and Seth help shape their creative process as musicians and songwriters. In 2008, after several independent releases, the band signed with Rubin, who says he recognized something special about the Avetts at their very first encounter. “In the first 30 seconds of meeting them, I knew they were people that I wanted to work with, and it seemed like being around them would make life better,” he recalls, noting they differ from other sibling musical acts because “they actually like each other” and have the ability to collaborate on deeply personal lyrics. Between touring constantly and selling out arenas around the world, MAY IT LAST finds the brothers working on new songs at Echo Mountain Studios in Asheville, NC and Rubin’s Shangri La Studio in Malibu, Calif. for their latest album, “True Sadness.” The grandsons of a minister, Scott and Seth live down the road from each other in their Concord, NC hometown, not far from their parents’ house. Four years Scott’s junior, Seth took up guitar as a kid to back up his brother, who showed an early enthusiasm for singing and performing. As teens, they rejected country music and the “country things” of their surroundings like cowboy boots and tractors, gravitating instead to artists like Hall & Oates, Prince and Nirvana. Seth says he “came back to a rural-based country music” after meeting bluegrass legend Doc Watson. Still, the brothers’ first band, NEMO, was devoted to heavy rock. They soon started playing acoustic jams, and added stand-up bass player Bob Crawford, a New Jersey native, who had only recently taken up the instrument. MAY IT LAST shows Scott returning from the road to spend time with his wife, Sarah, and two young children, admitting he dislikes being away from home more and more. But it’s this time at home with their parents, sister, Scott’s family and Seth’s girlfriend (actress Jennifer Carpenter) that fuels the brothers’ creativity. Soon, Scott and Seth travel to Malibu to record what will be the hit album “True Sadness,” marking the first time the full touring band has recorded together. The band’s struggles with illness and divorce have strengthened their bond and greatly influenced their lyrics. When Crawford’s two-year-old daughter was diagnosed with a brain tumor, band members rallied around his family in support. Crawford discusses his daughter’s struggles with cancer, noting how the shared ordeal has pulled the band even closer together. The recording of “True Sadness” reveals how the band’s personal lives are mined for their music, as Seth opens up about songs like “Divorce Separation Blues” (on the end of his first marriage), underscoring the honest vulnerability that has cemented their success. Five years after its release, “I and Love and You,” the Avetts’ major label debut (produced by Rubin), is certified gold, and “True Sadness,” released on American Recordings/Republic Records, receives critical raves, earning two Grammy nominations and fueling the band’s debut at Madison Square Garden. The band is already working on songs for the next album. In a quiet moment with Scott, Bob and Rick Rubin, Seth debuts a song he’s been writing – “C-Sections and Railway Trestles” – about becoming a father for the first time. MAY IT LAST had its world premiere at the 2017 SXSW Film Festival, where it received the 24 Beats Per Second Audience Award. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4dcxt6DUM0 MAY IT LAST: A PORTRAIT OF THE AVETT BROTHERS is an Apatow Production in association with RadicalMedia; produced and directed by Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio; executive producers, Jon Kamen, Dave O’Connor, Justin Wilkes; cinematographer, Jonathan Furmanski; additional photography, Michael Richard Martin; sound, Brad Bergbom; editor, Paul Little.
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Showtime Documentary Series THE FOURTH ESTATE to Follow NY Times as it Covers Trump Administration

A revealing multi-part documentary series The Fourth Estate (wt), exploring the process and progress of The New York Times and its journalists in covering the Trump administration, is set to debut later this year – Sunday, May 27 at 8 PM ET/PT – on Showtime. Produced and directed by Emmy(R) Award winning and Oscar(R) nominated filmmaker Liz Garbus (What Happened, Miss Simone?), the project illuminates critical issues facing journalism today – including the challenge to the bedrock concept of truth, the changing role of the media, and the Times’ response to President Trump’s war of words – through extraordinary access, on-the-scene filmmaking and exclusive sit-down interviews. From the first time President Trump called The New York Times “highly inaccurate” in its coverage of his administration, through his false claim that the paper is “failing” and losing thousands of subscribers, to ultimately declaring the majority of the nation’s major news outlets “fake news,” a chief task for the Times, long considered the “newspaper of record,” has been to find the best way to accurately and honestly cover this new and unconventional president. With unprecedented access to the inner workings of the Times, including filming inside closed-door meetings, rare interviews with the editors and reporters who cover the President and the tumult around him, as well as an insider’s view of the Sulzberger family publisher transition, Garbus intimately chronicles the tenacious men and women in the trenches who are fighting for the freedom of the press and America’s right to know. “The Times is an odd and confounding muse for the current president. Trump craves the positive coverage of his hometown paper while simultaneously denigrating the ‘failing New York Times’ on what seems to be a daily basis,” says Garbus. “We’ve been given unprecedented access to capture the challenges, triumphs and pitfalls of covering a president who has declared war on the free press, from the point of view of those on the front line – the White House correspondents, investigative journalists and editors at The New York Times. It’s the story of a lifetime, but what kind of story is it? Is it the story of a new era of the American presidency, or is it a reality show debacle? This series explores these questions as we take a front row seat to those writing the first draft of this moment in history.” Garbus is an Oscar, Grammy(R) and DGA nominated and an Emmy and Peabody Award winning director. Her most recent film, Nothing Left Unsaid: Gloria Vanderbilt & Anderson Cooper, had its world premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. Her previous film, What Happened, Miss Simone?, was the opening film at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, was nominated for a 2016 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, and received a Peabody Award and four Primetime Emmy nominations (including Best Directing for Garbus), winning the Emmy for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special. Garbus’ past work includes Love, Marilyn and Bobby Fischer Against the World. Garbus produced the documentary short Killing in the Name, directed by her partner Rory Kennedy and nominated for an Academy Award. Garbus received her first Emmy and Oscar nominations in 1998 when she won international public and critical acclaim for her film about prison life in America, The Farm: Angola, USA. Her directing credits include Girlhood, The Execution of Wanda Jean, The Nazi Officer’s Wife, Coma, Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech and There’s Something Wrong with Aunt Diane. Producing credits include Street Fight and Ghosts of Abu Ghraib.
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Chelsea Manning Documentary XY CHELSEA Set for Release in Late 2018

Whistle-blower Chelsea Manning, whose 35-year sentence in an all-male maximum security prison was commuted by President Obama in 2017, will be the subject of the upcoming Showtime documentary “XY Chelsea.” Shot over two years and featuring exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes verité with Manning, the film picks up on the momentous day in May when she leaves prison and follows her through her journey of discovery, while also examining her place in the conversation on national security and the fight of the transgender community for rights and visibility. The feature film, currently in post-production, will premiere at an upcoming film festival, followed by theatrical run and a subsequent premiere on the Showtime network. Since 2014, filmmaker Tim Travers Hawkins has followed Manning and her legal team as they fought to get her out of prison, and for her to receive the necessary medical treatment for her gender dysphoria. Following two suicide attempts in 2016, Chelsea and her team tried to save her life with a long-shot request to President Obama for a commutation of her sentence before he left office. Cameras follow Manning’s fight for release and witness as she reveals herself to the world for the first time. XY CHELSEA is the journey of her fight for survival and dignity, and her transition from prisoner to a free woman. XY Chelsea was directed by Tim Travers Hawkins and produced by Pulse Films in association with First Look Media’s Topic Studios, Field of Vision and British Film Institute. Thomas Benski, Julia Nottingham and Lucas Ochoa of Pulse Films are producers. Academy Award(R) winner Laura Poitras (RISK, Citizenfour), Mary Burke, Michael Bloom, Adam Pincus, Charlotte Cook, Sharon Chang, Blaine Vess and Christos V. Konstantakopoulos serve as executive producers.
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BELIEVER, Documentary on Mormon Church Treatment of LGBTQ Members, Heads to HBO

The powerful documentary Believer, directed by Don Argott, follows Mormon Dan Reynolds, frontman for the Grammy Award-winning band Imagine Dragons, as he takes on a new mission to explore how the Mormon Church treats its LGBTQ members. With the rising suicide rate amongst teens in the state of Utah, his concern with the church’s policies sends him on an unexpected path of acceptance and change. Believer, from Live Nation Productions, will have its world premiere in the Documentary Premieres section of the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, and will debut this summer on HBO. The film documents this past year of Reynolds’ life during the process of organizing the first-ever LoveLoud Festival concert in Orem, Utah, to benefit such gay rights organizations as GLAAD and the Trevor Project, among others. While Believer takes a broader look at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ treatment of LGBTQ members, it also focuses on the suicide rate in the community, which has skyrocketed in the last decade. Reynolds hopes Believer will continue to force discussion of gay rights within Mormonism on a larger scale. “LoveLoud reached 20,000 people in Utah, which is really small compared to the number of people who need to be reached,” he notes. “I think the reason the film needs to happen is because I feel like this is a way that nobody can turn their heads away.” Believer centers on Reynolds, Aja Volkman, his wife and fellow musician, and Tyler Glenn, frontman for Neon Trees, among others. Hans Zimmer composed the score for Believer and contributed to one of the two original songs Reynolds wrote for the film, giving music an integral role in the documentary. Image: Dan Reynolds appears in Believer by Don Argott, an official selection of the Documentary Premieres program at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Don Argott.
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BEUYS, Documentary on Controversial Arrtist Joseph Beuys, Sets January Theatrical Release Date | Trailer

BEUYS, a documentary portrait of Joseph Beuys, one of the 20th century’s most influential and controversial artists, directed by Andres Veiel, will have it’s U.S. theatrical premiere with an exclusive theatrical engagement at Film Forum in New York City, starting Wednesday, January 17. The film expands to other national markets in February and March, 2018. Charismatic and controversial German artist Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) was a messianic figure, alternately considered a shaman, a kook, a radical political activist, and a breakthrough artistic genius. Filmmaker Andres Veiel mines a rich trove of never-before-seen archival footage, showing how Beuys’s teachings (at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf), installations (using felt and fat), ‘happenings’ (covering himself in honey and gold leaf in How to Explain Paintings to a Dead Hare or locking himself in a room with a coyote in I Like America and America Likes Me), and lectures (“money shouldn’t be a commodity”) argued for a more expansive view of the role of art in our lives. Always recognizable in his trademark fedora, Beuys was a visionary who, 30 years after his death, continues to influence artists as well as confound and entertain the rest of us. BEUYS will have a two-week engagement, from January 17 to January 30, at Film Forum. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn2VSGwzMsE
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James Baldwin Documentary I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO Premieres on PBS’ Independent Lens on January 15

In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, to be called Remember This House. The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and successive assassinations of three of his close friends — Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. But at the time of Baldwin’s death in 1987, he left behind only 30 completed pages of his manuscript. Now, in his incendiary documentary, I Am Not Your Negro, master filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished. The result is a radical, up-to-the-minute examination of race in America, using Baldwin’s original words, spoken by Samuel L. Jackson, and a flood of rich archival material. I Am Not Your Negro is a journey into black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of #BlackLivesMatter. It is a film that questions black representation in Hollywood and beyond. And, ultimately, by confronting the deeper connections between the lives and assassination of these three leaders, Baldwin and Peck have produced a work that challenges the very definition of what America stands for. The box office hit and nominee for the Academy Award for Best Documentary, Raoul Peck’s I Am Not Your Negro premieres on Independent Lens on Monday, January 15, 2018, 10:00-11:30 PM ET on PBS. “For a project like this one, a lot of patience, time and risks are involved,” said Peck. “And at the early stage it’s almost impossible to convince anyone about the film to come. And then after a lot of research, writing and editing, in that order, there comes a time when what you really, really need above all is: trust. In this case, it was ITVS and executive producer of Independent Lens Lois Vossen who came at the right time, with courage and conviction. This is rare today among funders.” “Working with Raoul for four years on I Am Not Your Negro has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career,” said Vossen. “Baldwin’s writing has been a touchstone in my own life and I couldn’t imagine a filmmaker more perfectly suited to make a film on Baldwin than Raoul. Funding this project was a no-brainer. His masterpiece captures Baldwin’s extraordinary clarion voice in a film that will continue to illuminate for generations.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNUYdgIyaPM
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Documentary DAVID BOWIE: THE LAST FIVE YEARS to Debut on HBO on January 8

In the last years of his life, David Bowie ended nearly a decade of silence to engage in an extraordinary burst of activity, producing two groundbreaking albums and a musical. Exploring this unexpected end to a remarkable career, the illuminating documentary DAVID BOWIE: THE LAST FIVE YEARS, debuts Monday, January. 8, 2018, (8:00-9:35 p.m. ET/PT), on what would have been his 71st birthday, exclusively on HBO. On the 2003-2004 “Reality” tour, David Bowie had a frightening brush with mortality, suffering a heart attack during what was to be his final full concert. He then disappeared from public view, only re-emerging in the last five years of his life to make some of the most important music of his career. Made with remarkable access, Francis Whately’s documentary is a revelatory follow-up to his acclaimed 2013 documentary “David Bowie: Five Years,” which chronicled Bowie’s golden ’70s and early-’80s period. While illuminating iconic moments of his extraordinary and prolific career, DAVID BOWIE: THE LAST FIVE YEARS focuses on three major projects: the albums “The Next Day” and the jazz-infused “Blackstar” (released on Bowie’s 69th birthday, two days before his death in 2016), and the musical “Lazarus,” which was inspired by the character he played in the 1976 film “The Man Who Fell to Earth.” Dispelling the simplistic view that his career was simply predicated on change, the film includes revealing interviews with many of Bowie’s closest creative collaborators, including: Tony Visconti, Bowie’s longtime producer; musicians who contributed to “The Next Day” and “Blackstar”; Jonathan Barnbrook, the graphic designer of both albums; Robert Fox, producer of “Lazarus,” along with cast members from the show, providing a unique behind-the-scenes look at Bowie’s creative process; and Johan Renck, director of Bowie’s final music video, “Lazarus,” which was widely discussed as foreshadowing his death. The documentary also features excerpts from many of Bowie’s biggest hits, including “Fame,” “Rebel Rebel,” “‘Heroes'” and “Space Oddity,” as well as songs from his last two albums, juxtaposing footage from the music videos “The Stars (Are Out Tonight),” “Blackstar” and “Lazarus” with studio performances by the musicians on the albums. On Feb. 12, 2017, David Bowie posthumously swept the 2017 Grammy Awards with five wins for “Blackstar,” including: Best Rock Performance, Best Alternative Music Album, Best Recording Package, Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical and Best Rock Song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwuuDpwPYxo
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TROPHY, Documentary on Big-game Hunting and Wildlife Conservation, to Debut on CNN

TROPHY, the critically-acclaimed film exploring big-game hunting and wildlife conservation, will premiere on CNN on Sunday, January 14, 2018, at 9:00pm Eastern & Pacific, with limited commercial interruption. The film is directed by award-winning photojournalist, cinematographer, and filmmaker Shaul Schwarz and co-directed by award-winning photojournalist, cinematographer, and filmmaker Christina Clusiau. “TROPHY explores the complex stakes surrounding sport hunting and wildlife conservation,” said Amy Entelis, executive vice president for talent and content development for CNN Worldwide, “and then lets viewers make up their own minds about the value of these majestic creatures.” From the film’s opening images of an American father and child hunting together in Texas, the filmmakers immediately frame the multidimensional nature of the controversy at the heart of the film. Character stories featuring hunters, anti-poaching security officials, reserve owners, animal welfare organizations, government officials, and hunting clubs establish why the intersecting issues are rippled with emotion and, in respect to those species which are endangered, the issues are also urgent. “We wanted to explore the idea of what it means when we place economic value on wildlife. Could it be a tool to help conserve wildlife populations or does it hinder conservation efforts?” asked the filmmakers. TROPHY takes viewers on an international visual safari, visiting the countries that are home to the ‘big five,’ the African wildlife most-prized by big-game hunters: lion, buffalo, rhino, leopard, and elephant. Pausing at the conference for Safari Club International (SCI) held annually in Las Vegas, the film lingers at exhibits for hunting outfitters, guns, taxidermy services, conservation seminars, and safari licenses. SCI, which attracts 20,000 visitors from around the world each year, hosts this broad array of interests and businesses, all at the same convention. Hunting clubs and organizations like SCI argue that the trophy permit fees secured by hunters engaged in legal activity make important contributions to African economies and also fund conservation efforts. But even legal hunting can have unintended consequences. While countries like South Africa sell big-game hunting licenses which partially-fund its conservation activities, hunting instructor Tim Fallon says, “man has kind of screwed this up. We have encroached on so much natural land, that the species, all the species, have to be managed…” Since just 1970, the film says the world has lost more than 60% of all wild animals, and some species seem to have fared even worse. Populations of elephants have plummeted from 10,000,000 animals in 1900 to 1,300,000 in 1979, to only 350,000 elephants in 2015. In 2008, the year prior to South Africa’s moratorium on the sale of rhino horn, 83 rhinos were poached. In the year after the ban, 333 rhinos were poached, and in 2014, more than 1200 rhinos were illegally killed. Extraordinary aerial footage of vast African vistas shown in the film is interwoven with close images of swaths of cultivated lands. The film demonstrates that while hunting and habitat encroachment have an impact on wildlife reduction, it’s poaching, often connected to both corruption and terrorism, that’s having the most dramatic and deleterious impacts. John Hume, owner of the world’s largest rhino breeding reserve, sees harvesting the horns from farm-raised rhinos as integral to saving his beloved animals. Rhino horn is “more expensive than gold or heroin by weight” Hume says. But, Hume asserts, animals do not go extinct while farmers can make money from breeding them. Hume’s procedure for harvesting rhino horn keeps the animals alive and re-growing more keratin horn. Hume feels that if he can demonstrate that raising rhinos and safely harvesting their horns offers an income, others may also similarly cultivate the animals, and thereby rescue them from being endangered. Ecologist Craig Packer believes Hume’s farm is a potential model success story for saving the rhino. The film explores most of the challenges of balancing conservation, sport, human population growth, and the commerce associated with big-game hunting. Central to TROPHY, are the open questions of the appropriate economic value of wildlife. The film leaves the unanswered questions for viewers to ponder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPPlH_yKgr4 Image: Buffalo Dream Ranch, North West Province, South Africa – November 2016: John Hume, the worlds largest rhino breeder walks among his Rhinos. Mr. Hume had invested more than 50 Million US dollars into his rhino project. He currently is the custodian of over 1500 Rhinos, and fears that without legalization in the trade of Rhino Horn his project will come to an end.
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Morgan Spurlock’s “Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!” Pulled from Sundance Film Festival

[caption id="attachment_26009" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Morgan Spurlock in Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken![/caption] Morgan Spurlock’s latest documentary “Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!” has being pulled from the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, just days after he published his online confession where he admitted to past sexual misconduct. The Washington Post is reporting that the other partners – Jeremy Chilnick and Matthew Galkin in his production company Warrior Poets, said Friday in a statement that “this is not the appropriate time” for the film to premiere. In his online confessional, titled “I am Part of the Problem” Spurlock wrote, that “When I was in college, a girl who I hooked up with on a one night stand accused me of rape.”

I am Part of the Problem
Read: https://t.co/MfRAtm3fcv — Morgan Spurlock (@MorganSpurlock) December 14, 2017
I am Part of the Problem As I sit around watching hero after hero, man after man, fall at the realization of their past indiscretions, I don’t sit by and wonder “who will be next?” I wonder, “when will they come for me?” You see, I’ve come to understand after months of these revelations, that I am not some innocent bystander, I am also a part of the problem. I’m sure I’m not alone in this thought, but I can’t blindly act as though I didn’t somehow play a part in this, and if I’m going truly represent myself as someone who has built a career on finding the truth, then it’s time for me to be truthful as well. I am part of the problem. Over my life, there have been many instances that parallel what we see everyday in the news. When I was in college, a girl who I hooked up with on a one night stand accused me of rape. Not outright. There were no charges or investigations, but she wrote about the instance in a short story writing class and called me by name. A female friend who was in the class told be about it afterwards. I was floored. “That’s not what happened!” I told her. This wasn’t how I remembered it at all. In my mind, we’d been drinking all night and went back to my room. We began fooling around, she pushed me off, then we laid in the bed and talked and laughed some more, and then began fooling around again. We took off our clothes. She said she didn’t want to have sex, so we laid together, and talked, and kissed, and laughed, and then we started having sex. “Light Bright,” she said. “What?” “Light bright. That kids toy, that’s all I can see and think about,” she said … and then she started to cry. I didn’t know what to do. We stopped having sex and I rolled beside her. I tried to comfort her. To make her feel better. I thought I was doing ok, I believed she was feeling better. She believed she was raped. That’s why I’m part of the problem. Then there was the time I settled a sexual harassment allegation at my office. This was around 8 years ago, and it wasn’t a gropy feely harassment. It was verbal, and it was just as bad. I would call my female assistant “hot pants” or “sex pants” when I was yelling to her from the other side of the office. Something I thought was funny at the time, but then realized I had completely demeaned and belittled her to a place of non-existence. So, when she decided to quit, she came to me and said if I didn’t pay her a settlement, she would tell everyone. Being who I was, it was the last thing I wanted, so of course, I paid. I paid for peace of mind. I paid for her silence and cooperation. Most of all, I paid so I could remain who I was. I am part of the problem. And then there’s the infidelity. I have been unfaithful to every wife and girlfriend I have ever had. Over the years, I would look each of them in the eye and proclaim my love and then have sex with other people behind their backs. I hurt them. And I hate it. But it didn’t make me stop. The worst part is, I’m someone who consistently hurts those closest to me. From my wife, to my friends, to my family, to my partners & co-workers. I have helped create a world of disrespect through my own actions. And I am part of the problem. But why? What caused me to act this way? Is it all ego? Or was it the sexual abuse I suffered as a boy and as a young man in my teens? Abuse that I only ever told to my first wife, for fear of being seen as weak or less than a man? Is it because my father left my mother when I was child? Or that she believed he never respected her, so that disrespect carried over into their son? Or is it because I’ve consistently been drinking since the age of 13? I haven’t been sober for more than a week in 30 years, something our society doesn’t shun or condemn but which only served to fill the emotional hole inside me and the daily depression I coped with. Depression we can’t talk about, because its wrong and makes you less of a person. And the sexual daliances? Were they meaningful? Or did they only serve to try to make a weak man feel stronger. I don’t know. None of these things matter when you chip away at someone and consistently make them feel like less of a person. I am part of the problem. We all are. But I am also part of the solution. By recognizing and openly admitting what I’ve done to further this terrible situation, I hope to empower the change within myself. We should all find the courage to admit we’re at fault. More than anything, I’m hopeful that I can start to rebuild the trust and the respect of those I love most. I’m not sure I deserve it, but I will work everyday to earn it back. I will do better. I will be better. I believe we all can. The only individual I have control over is me. So starting today, I’m going to be more honest with you and myself. I’m going to lay it all out in the open. Maybe that will be a start. Who knows. But I do know I’ve talked enough in my life … I’m finally ready to listen Spurlock stepped down from the company after the publication of the online confessional. Warrior Poets released a statement confirming his departure to Deadline, signed by Chilnick and Matthew Galkin, who is listed as a partner of the company along with Spurlock. On behalf of Warrior Poets, we as partners have always supported our company and its endeavors. As of today, Morgan Spurlock will be stepping down effective immediately. We will continue to lead the company as equal partners, producing, distributing & creating from our independent production company. Respectfully, Co-Founder & Partner Jeremy Chilnick and Partner Matthew Galkin YouTube Red also announced that the streaming company will no longer release his film Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! which was snagged for a reported $3.5 million after it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. A spokesman for YouTube said: “We feel for all of the women impacted by the recent statements made by Morgan Spurlock. In light of this situation, we have decided not to distribute Super Size Me 2 on YouTube Red.”
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