Documentary

Gloria Allred Documentary SEEING ALLRED Set For Release Early Next Year

[caption id="attachment_25719" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Allred with client Norma McCorvey (“Jane Roe” in Roe v. Wade), 1989[/caption] The documentary Seeing Allred, that explores the public and private sides of feminist firebrand attorney Gloria Allred, will launch globally on Netflix after its world premiere in the US Documentary Competition at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Seeing Allred directed by Sophie Sartain (Mimi and Dona, 2015) and Roberta Grossman (Above and Beyond, 2014) will launch on Netflix in early 2018. As sexual violence allegations grip the nation, Seeing Allred provides a candid look at one of the most public crusaders against sexual assault and the war on women. Through rare archival footage and revealing sit-down interviews with both her supporters and critics, this fascinating biographical portrait examines Allred’s personal trauma and assesses both her wins and setbacks on high-profile cases against the likes of Bill Cosby and Donald Trump. “I feel fortunate that “Seeing Allred” captures my passion and battle for justice for many victims of injustice”, said Allred. ” The courage that my clients demonstrate, in speaking truth to power, inspires me every day as we fight together.” What motivates her 40-year-long commitment to justice for women and equal rights for the LGBT community? And do her often-controversial methods work? Featuring interviews with Gloria Steinem, Don Lemon and Allred’s daughter Lisa Bloom, directors Sophie Sartain and Roberta Grossman have crafted a portrait of a woman everyone thinks they know, at a time when those without need her the most.
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Mister Fred Rogers Documentary WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR? Gets June 2018 Release

“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” the new documentary about the life and work of Mister Fred Rogers from Academy Award-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville has been acquired by Focus Features and is set to be released on June 8, 2018. “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” takes an intimate look at America’s favorite neighbor: Mister Fred Rogers. A portrait of a man whom we all think we know, this documentary is an emotional and moving film that takes you beyond zip-up cardigans and the land of make-believe, and into the heart of a creative genius, who inspired generations of children with compassion and limitless imagination. “Morgan once again avoids making a traditional biodoc and instead takes us behind the curtain to see how Fred Rogers navigated the cultural and social issues of the second half of the twentieth century with his own brand of forward-thinking, compassionate wisdom far beyond his time,” commented Focus chairman Peter Kujawski. “Mister Rogers makes us all want to be better people, and we couldn’t be more proud to be a part of telling his story today.” “The Fred Rogers I discovered making this film is at once comfortably familiar and completely surprising. I believe Mister Rogers is the kind of voice we need to hear right now,” said director Morgan Neville. “I am thrilled to work with Focus Features on taking this film out into the world, along with my collaborators at Impact Partners and Independent Lens.”
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Greenwich Entertainment to Release Matt Tyrnauer’s Documentary SCOTTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD

Matt Tyrnauer’s documentary SCOTTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD which premiered to strong reviews and sold-out crowds at the Toronto International Film Festival in September will be released theatrically in April of 2018 by recently formed NYC-based distributor Greenwich Entertainment. Best known for his acclaimed films VALENTINO: THE LAST EMPEROR and CITIZEN JANE: BATTLE FOR THE CITY, Tyrnauer’s latest film tells the story of Scotty Bowers, a World War II Marine combat veteran who became a legendary bi-sexual male hustler and all-purpose date-arranger for Hollywood movie stars from the 1940’s through the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980’s. The film has been called “the juiciest documentary in years” (Vulture), “criminally entertaining” (Vanity Fair ), and a “resonant and funny portrait of a larger-than-life character” (The Film Stage). At the age of 89, Bowers’ 2012 tell-all biography “Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars” (Grove Press) was a best-selling sensation, and offered a powerful counter-narrative of Hollywood, as well as a revised view of the intimate lives of many of the greatest names of Hollywood’s Golden Age. The cinema verite feature film contains a nuanced portrait of the now 94-year-old Bowers, and also contains fresh revelations, and a trove of newly discovered archival footage and photos of Bowers from the 40s, 50s and beyond. The film documents how Bowers became a confidante, aide de camp and lover to many of Hollywood’s greatest male–and female—stars. Out of a gas station in the shadow of the studio lots, he began connecting his band of friends from the military with those who had to hide their often complex true sexual identities from the public in the pre-Stonewall era. Prepare yourself for a different take on Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Lana Turner, Ava Gardner and many more icons from the Hollywood Golden Age. Bowers, with the vigor of someone decades younger is an unparalleled raconteur. Tyrnauer’s camera follows him over several months as he meets up with old colleagues—some of them from his L.A. Confidential-esque gas stations days–who corroborate his picaresque tales. “Scotty is a classic American type: fun, happy-go-lucky, eager to please, big-hearted and literally up for anything – a “greatest generation” guy who was also perhaps was one of the great sexual athletes of his day. Matt captures the still-spry, and now 94-year-old Scotty brilliantly and uses his story as a jumping off place to evoke a secret bygone Hollywood and the pressure on that era’s film stars to conform publicly, at least, to the unvarying standard of monogamous heterosexuality,” said Greenwich co-managing director Ed Arentz. “We’re thrilled to have it as one of our inaugural releases.” Tyrnauer, also a journalist (former editor-at-large of Vanity Fair) long heard about Bowers and his gas station in the course of reporting stores about the hidden history of Los Angeles. Eventually, he discovered that the elusive Scotty was still alive and living in Laurel Canyon. “From the moment I met Scotty, I felt he was one of the most extraordinary characters I’d ever come across. He’s one of the last living links to a very different time in Hollywood—and the rest of the world–when same-sexuality was an unmentionable taboo, punishable by prison sentences. Scotty allowed people to live more authentic lives by arranging liaisons for people who, by great necessity, had to hide their true identities to shield themselves from dire consequences,” Tyrnauer said. “I’m really looking forward to collaborating with Ed and the team at Greenwich Entertainment to share Scotty’s story and get this film seen by audiences across North America.” SCOTTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, recently had its international premiere at the Rome Film Festival, and its U.S. premiere Saturday at DOC NYC. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FExFEVQyAw
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Sundance Selects will Release Rachel Dretzin’s Documentary FAR FROM THE TREE

Ahead of its world premiere today, November 10, at DOC NYC, Sundance Selects has acquired Rachel Dretzin’s documentary Far From the Tree, for a theatrical release in Summer 2018. Based on the award-winning book by acclaimed author Andrew Solomon, Far From the Tree is an inspiring look at the difficulties and rewards of both raising and being a child whose life is vastly different from that of his or her parents. Directed and produced by Emmy®Award-winner Dretzin, the film follows several families as they cope with the challenges presented by Down syndrome, dwarfism, autism and even having a child in prison. The film shares their intimate stories with touching candor, and in doing so reveals basic truths about all parents and all children, truths of acceptance and love that feel especially urgent at this historic moment. Solomon commented on the news, saying: “I was delighted to find in Rachel Dretzin a filmmaker who could translate my book into a gorgeous and compelling film, and now I’m thrilled that the film has found in Sundance Selects a distributor who shares our vision. This will be the perfect path for this deeply moving film to meet its audience.” Dretzin added: “Sundance Selects has a fantastic track record and their plans for the film are very much in sync with what we had hoped for. It’s a delight and an honor to have them on board.” “Far From the Tree is an inspiring and irresistibly moving journey into the differences that make us who we are. It builds on Andrew Solomon’s landmark book to paint a complex and universal portrait of acceptance with an empathy and scale that only true cinema can do,” said Jonathan Sehring and Lisa Schwartz, co-Presidents of Sundance Selects/IFC Films.
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Documentary THE SECRET LIFE OF LANCE LETSCHER Will Premiere on Ovation [TRAILER]

The documentary The Secret Life of Lance Letscher, is a deeply personal and psychological portrait of internationally-renowned collage artist Lance Letscher, told through biographical memories of trauma and triumph. Featuring interviews with collectors, fellow artists, art critics and friends, the film provides a doorway into Letscher’s unique artistry and his brilliant mind. The critically acclaimed documentary from director Sandra Adair, will debut on Ovation, America’s only arts network, as the “Artists and Icons” movie of the week on Sunday, November 19, 2017 at 7pm ET / 4pm PT. The Secret Life of Lance Letscher, includes images of more than a hundred of his intricate and complex collages, sculptures and installations. Letscher is internationally famous for taking bits of old books, magazines, newspaper clippings, old letters, catalogues, posters, album covers and other found objects from flea markets and junk yards across Texas and assembling them into startlingly intricate art. He has exhibited extensively across the U.S. and abroad including Austin, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, as well as in London, Brussels, Munich and Barcelona and his works are represented in the collections of the Austin Museum of Art, Austin and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The documentary film is directed, produced and edited by Sandra Adair, A.C.E. Adair is an Academy Award-nominated feature film editor (Boyhood) and is making her directorial debut with The Secret Life of Lance Letscher.
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15: A QUINCEAÑERA STORY, Five Different Latina Girls Celebrate Quinceañera, will Debut on HBO

15: A Quinceanera Story is a collection of four short films following five Latina girls from different cultural, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds as they transition to adulthood, all observing the traditional rite of passage of the quinceañera, a celebration of their 15th birthdays. Executive produced by renowned music executive Tommy Mottola and directed by Emmy(R) winner Matthew O’Neill and Latin Grammy-winning recording artist Thalía Sodi, 15: A Quinceanera Story, debuts Tuesday, December 19 (7:00-7:30 p.m. ET/PT), followed by a new film at the same time on successive nights – DEC. 20, 21 and 22 – simultaneously on HBO and HBO Latino. “As a Latina, I’m proud to share our culture and shine a spotlight on the dynamic, talented and beautiful young women featured in these four films,” comments director Thalía Sodi. “These young women are fierce and determined, and represent the rising generation of American Latinas who are helping define the future of our country,” adds executive producer Tommy Mottola. “The featured young women are examples of the breadth and diversity of the Latina experience in America – we’re proud to celebrate them and their communities as they contend with the complicated realities of growing up in America today,” says director Matthew O’Neill. “I couldn’t think of a better home for these stories than HBO.” 15: A Quinceanera Story follows young girls and their families as they navigate the complexities of coming of age in the U.S. From grappling with gender identity to the constant fear of having a loved one deported, the issues raised in each piece reflect the current cultural and political landscape. The quinceañera girls profiled include: Zoey (debuting Dec. 19), a young Mexican-American living south of Los Angeles, who was assigned male at birth and celebrates with her trans-madrinas (godmothers), who never had quinceañeras of their own. Rosi (Dec. 20), an American growing up in Florida with a mother from Guatemala and a father from Cuba, who combines all three of her cultures for a quinceañera in Havana. She chooses to celebrate there because her beloved grandfather cannot get a visa to the U.S. Ashley (Dec. 21), an amateur boxer living in East Los Angeles, whose mother is a Dreamer and whose father has been deported. She is as nervous about her first official fight as she is about her quinceañera. Ashley’s coach, who is undergoing deportation procedures, may not get to see her special day. Jackie and Nina (Dec. 22), best friends from San Antonio, who decide to honor their multi-generational Mexican-American heritage by mixing their joint quince with their love of escaramuza, a traditional Mexican horse-dancing display.
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Sonja Sohn’s Documentary BALTIMORE RISING will Debut on HBO [TRAILER]

The new documentary Baltimore Rising directed by Sonja Sohn, star of “The Wire”, chronicles the struggle of police and activists to hold the city together in the aftermath of the death of Freddie Gray. In the wake of the 2015 death of Freddie Gray in police custody, Baltimore was a city on the edge. Peaceful protests and destructive riots erupted in the immediate aftermath of Gray’s death, while the city waited to hear the fate of the six police officers involved in the incident, reflecting the deep divisions between authorities and the community – and underscoring the urgent need for reconciliation. Baltimore Rising follows activists, police officers, community leaders and gang affiliates, who struggle to hold Baltimore together, even as the homicide rate hits record levels. Exploring how to make change when change is hard, the thought-provoking, timely documentary debuts Monday, November 20 (8:00-9:35 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO. The strife that grips Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray exposes longstanding fault lines in a distraught and damaged community. Baltimore Rising chronicles the determined efforts of people on all sides who fight for justice and work to make their city better, sometimes coming together in unexpected ways, discovering a common humanity where before they often saw each other only as adversaries. Among the key figures spotlighted in Baltimore Rising: Genard “Shadow” Barr (community leader, former gang member) is an addiction recovery specialist at the Penn-North Recovery Center, where he also helps organize a reentry jobs program for community members. Bridging the divide between police and residents of the Penn-North area, he works with all parties to mitigate violence. Barr is now working to open an entrepreneurship and job training center in West Baltimore. Commissioner Kevin Davis has led the Baltimore Police Department since 2015. He took over as interim police commissioner in the aftermath of the uprising and surging violence, when the mayor fired previous commissioner Anthony Batts. A lifelong Marylander, Commissioner Davis is a 25-year veteran and fourth-generation public safety professional. He was faced with repairing public trust in the department and stemming a rising tide of homicides amidst the trials of his six officers. Makayla Gilliam-Price (activist) founded the youth justice organization City Bloc as a high school student. She also organizes with the grassroots think-tank Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle. Adam Jackson (activist) is CEO of the grassroots think-tank Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle. His efforts are aimed at connecting young people to public policy and creating transformative change in Baltimore. Dayvon Love (activist), director of public policy for Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, has deep experience with grassroots activism in the community. He has given numerous speeches and led workshops to give insight into the plight of its citizens. Kwame Rose (activist), an artist, writer, musician and public speaker, gained notoriety during the uprising that followed Freddie Gray’s death for his public confrontation with FOX News reporter Geraldo Rivera. Arrested during protests outside the trials of the police officers charged in the Gray case, he recently accepted a position in the office of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh. Lt. Colonel Melvin Russell, chief of the Community Partnership Division, Baltimore Police Department, joined The Baltimore Police Department (BPD) in 1979 as a police cadet. He worked as a uniform patrol and then an undercover officer for 20 years before becoming an Eastern District Lieutenant in 2007. Recently he led the BPD’s chaplaincy program and worked cooperatively with such community leaders as Genard “Shadow” Barr to support a reentry jobs program and prevent another uprising during the police officers’ trials in the Gray case. Dawnyell Taylor (police detective) has been with the Baltimore City Police for more than 16 years. In 2015 and 2016, she was the lead investigator in the Freddie Gray homicide case, and testified at the trial of Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., who was charged with Gray’s murder. Taylor continues to serve in the police academy in Baltimore. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t87jLeOzPI
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VIDEO: Watch SAVING CAPITALISM Trailer, Documentary Ask “Why is American Economic System Failing?”

Here is the new trailer for the documentary Saving Capitalism based on Robert Reich’s 2015 book; and looks at the reasons why the economic system that once made America strong is suddenly failing, as well as how it can be fixed. The film debuts November 21 on Netflix. Directed by Jacob Kornbluth, Saving Capitalism is a clear-eyed examination of a political and economic status quo that no longer serves the people, exposing the powerful alliances between Washington and Wall Street, as well as the extreme wealth disparity in our country. Visionary and acute, Saving Capitalism helps build the path toward restoring America’s fundamental promise of opportunity and advancement. Diving deep into the political economic system, this documentary is not about being democratic or republican, but refocuses the conversation on how we can fix it. Who is Robert B. Reich? Robert B. Reich is an American political commentator, professor, and author. He served in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter and was Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997. Also, he was appointed a member of then-President-elect Barack Obama’s economic transition advisory board. He has published 14 books, including the best-sellers Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few; The Work of Nations; Reason; Supercapitalism; Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future; and a best-selling e-book, Beyond Outrage. The Robert Reich-Jacob Kornbluth film INEQUALITY FOR ALL won a U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Achievement in Filmmaking at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival in Utah. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T9E2DBzAaI
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VIDEO: Watch Jon Alpert’s CUBA AND THE CAMERAMAN Trailer – See Life in Cuba Over the Course of 45 YEARS

Cuba and the Cameraman, directed by multiple-Emmy award-winning and Academy Award-nominated documentarian Jon Alpert, captures life in Cuba over the course of 45 years, from the country’s cautious optimism during the early 1970s, to the harrowing 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union, to the death of Fidel Castro last year. In the film, which premiered at this year’s Venice Film Festival, Alpert focuses on three Cuban families and their growth and struggle throughout the decades. He was also astonishingly able to obtain unprecedented access to Castro himself, exposing a more intimate side of Castro never before seen by the public. Cuba and the Cameraman will be launching on Netflix and opening in select theaters on Friday, November 24. Since 1959, when Fidel Castro ascended to power in the revolution that marked an era, no one had ever gone as deep inside Cuba as Jon Alpert (Baghdad ER, China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province). The multiple-Emmy award-winning and Academy Award-nominated documentarian began filming in Castro’s Cuba in 1972, having become fascinated with the country, its people, and its culture years earlier. Alpert brought along a small crew and a portable camera, beginning a fascinating, intimate, decades-long chronicle of the Communist country that was 90 miles off the coast of Florida, a longtime political foe, but a mystery to much of the world. Compiled from more than a thousand hours of footage and filmed over 45 years, Alpert follows three families and Fidel Castro. He was there for Cuba’s optimistic socialism of the early ’70s, and for the 1980 Mariel Bay boatlift, when over 100,000 Cubans fled the island accompanied by inmates released from prisons and insane asylums. He returned to cover the hardships of the 1990s; the harrowing “Special Period” after the fall of the Soviet Union, when Cuba literally went dark. He documented how these families and the Cuban leader dealt with the serious challenges gripping their country. Among the revelations in the Netflix original documentary Cuba and the Cameraman is Castro himself – unguarded, off-the-cuff, and unedited. In their numerous on-camera interviews, the cigar-chomping revolutionary affectionately called the straight-shooting Alpert “The Journalist,” and showed a side of himself never seen publicly. Alpert was one of the last Americans to see Castro before his death. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsZ8hDutkeM
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VIDEO: Watch a Clip from Parenting Documentary FAR FROM THE TREE Featuring Andrew Solomon

Check out a new clip – on discovering the true nature of family featuring Andrew Solomon, from new parenting documentary Far From The Tree, directed by Emmy-winning filmmaker Rachel Dretzin. Far From The Tree will World Premiere at the 2017 DOC NYC on Friday, November 10, 2017. More than a decade ago, acclaimed author Andrew Solomon embarked on a remarkable journey that was at once intensely personal and unmistakably universal. Inspired by his family’s difficulty in accepting his differences from them, Solomon began researching children who fall “Far From The Tree” in a variety of ways. The result was Solomon’s bestselling book Far From The Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity. Based on Solomon’s award-winning book, the new documentary Far From The Tree explores the difficulties and rewards of raising and being a child whose experience of the world is vastly different from their parents. Directed and produced by Emmy-winning filmmaker Rachel Dretzin, it follows families coping with the challenges presented by Down syndrome, dwarfism, autism and even having a child in prison as they share their intimate stories with touching candor in an illuminating look at a complex bond. Each family tells a unique story, but Dretzin deftly uncovers parallels that touch on issues of community, understanding and self-acceptance. Deeply compassionate, the film illustrates how families that face extraordinary challenges meet them in the most ordinary ways: with love, empathy, and a desire to understand one another, and encourages us to cherish loved ones for all they are, not who they might have been. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI1L-Fwm7NY
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VIDEO: Watch New Clip from THE PROBLEM WITH APU, Premieres on truTV on November 19

Check out a new clip from the highly-anticipated comedic documentary The Problem with Apu which is set to premiere on truTV on Sunday, November 19 at 10PM ET/PT. The Problem with Apu will have its World Premiere at DOC NYC on November 14. In the hour-long film, creator and star Hari Kondabolu, a South Asian-American comedian, confronts his long-standing “nemesis” Apu Nahasapeemapetilon – better known as the Indian convenience store owner on The Simpsons. Kondabolu discusses how this controversial caricature was created, burrowed its way into the hearts and minds of Americans, and continues to exist – intact – nearly three decades later. In this highly-personal, insightful and timely exploration of minority media representation, Kondabolu speaks with prominent South Asian actors about the damaging legacy of Apu – an animated character voiced by a white actor with a heavily exaggerated, stereotypical Indian accent. Aziz Ansari, Kal Penn, Aasif Mandvi, Hasan Minjaj, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Aparna Nancherla, Russell Peters, Sakina Jaffrey and Maulik Pancholy share poignant stories about their own experiences with Apu and the broader questions about the comedy and representation he evokes. With additional interviews with EGOT-winner Whoopi Goldberg, W. Kamau Bell, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Mallika Rao, and many more, The Problem with Apu takes a humorous look at how even a beloved television series can have a blind spot. “I was obsessed with The Simpsons growing up and it has greatly influenced my comedy. However, as my mother proves, you can criticize something you love because you expect more from it,” said Kondabolu. “For the longest time, Apu was the most prominent representation of South Asian Americans – and despite how much our society has changed in the last three decades – the character persists today. I made this film to not only talk about the origin of Apu and highlight the impact of such images in media, but also to celebrate the diversity and complexity of my community.” Hailed as “one of the most exciting political comics in stand-up today” by The New York Times, Brooklyn-based comedian Kondaboluis the host of the popular podcast “Politically Re-Active” alongside W. Kamau Bell. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nUp5EG-5Kc
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VIDEO: New Trailer for QUEST, An Epic Portrait of an American Family, Opens in NY on Dec. 8

Here is the new trailer for Quest, Jonathan Olshefski’s moving chronicle of a close knit African-American family living in North Philadelphia. Filmed with vérité intimacy for almost a decade, Quest has swept top documentary awards at festivals across the country since it premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, including the Grand Jury prize at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. It will open in Philadelphia on December 1 (Landmark’s Ritz at the Bourse), New York on December 8 (Quad Cinema) and Los Angeles (Laemmle Monica) on December 15. A wider national rollout will follow. Beginning at the dawn of the Obama presidency, the film follows the Raineys: father Christopher “Quest” Rainey, who juggles various jobs to support his family; Christine’a “Ma Quest,” who works at a women’s shelter; Christine’a’s son William, who is undergoing cancer treatment while caring for his baby son; and PJ, Quest and Christine’a’s young daughter. In a neighborhood besieged by inequality and neglect, they nurture a community of hip hop artists in their home music studio. It’s a safe space where all are welcome, but this creative sanctuary can’t always shield them from the strife that grips their neighborhood. Epic in scope, Quest is a vivid illumination of race and class in America, and a profound testament to love, healing and hope.
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