Documentary

THY FATHER’S CHAIR, Vérité Documentary on Orthodox Jewish Twins Gets Fall Release Date | Trailer

Antonio Tibaldi and Alex Lora’s Thy Father’s Chair, a vérité documentary focused on Orthodox Jewish twins, who are extreme hoarders, is set for release in theaters in the Fall. The film opens Friday, October 13, 2017, at the Village East Cinema in New York City – a week before its Los Angeles theatrical premiere on Friday, October 20, at Laemmle’s Music Hall. Thy Father’s Chair brings audiences into the world of Abraham and Shraga, Orthodox Jewish twins who live a secluded existence in their inherited Brooklyn home. Since the death of their parents, they have stopped throwing away anything, hosting stray cats and accumulating all sorts of stuff. Enraged by the situation, the upstairs tenant threatens to stop paying them rent unless they proceed with a radical cleaning of their apartment, forcing Abraham and Shraga to open their doors to a specialized cleaning company. What ensues seems, at first, a traumatic invasion of privacy, with the twins fighting to preserve their memories. But little by little, the relationship with the head of the cleaning company begins to deepen — and by painfully separating from most of their belongings, Abraham and Shraga discover a path to a new life. By the end of the film, the twins are pushed to find new solutions to many unanswered questions: how free are you within the boundaries of your heritage? How do you begin to let go of the past and live your life in the present? How do you confront the loss of your parents and become responsible for yourself? Thy Father’s Chair is the fourth collaboration between Antonio Tibaldi and Alex Lora. The previous films they made together, [S]comparse, Odysseus Gambit and Godka Cirka, played at Sundance and several top international film festival and won several awards. They are currently developing other nonfiction and fiction projects together.
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Showtime to World Premiere ERIC CLAPTON: LIFE IN 12 BARS and LOVE MEANS ZERO at Toronto Film Festival

[caption id="attachment_23415" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars[/caption] Showtime will world premiere two riveting films, “Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars” and “Love Means Zero” at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars, directed by Oscar(R)-winner Lili Fini Zanuck (Rush, Driving Miss Daisy), is an unflinching and deeply personal journal into the life of legendary 18-time Grammy(R) winner Eric Clapton. Also debuting at TIFF is Love Means Zero, the story of the celebrated yet controversial tennis coach Nick Bollettieri, directed and produced by Jason Kohn (Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)). Following their debuts at TIFF, both documentaries will premiere on Showtime in 2018. These two films join the esteemed Showtime Documentary Films portfolio that focuses on the lives and legacies of culture-defining and at times controversial figures, including Whitney. “Can I Be Me”, The Putin Interviews, Becoming Cary Grant, the Emmy(R)-nominated Listen To Me Marlon, Risk, which takes viewers closer than they have ever been before to Julian Assange and tells the WikiLeaks story from the inside, and an upcoming documentary film on John Belushi’s life and career. Told through his own words and songs, Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars is a moving and surprising film about one of the great artists of the modern era – a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner, and the only artist ever inducted three times into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Spanning more than half a century of legendary popular musical innovation, the film contextualizes Eric Clapton’s role in contemporary music and cultural history. This rare and deeply intimate film reflects on Clapton’s traumatic childhood, his long and difficult struggle with drugs and alcohol and the tragic loss of his son and how he always found his inner strength and healing in music. The documentary features extensive interviews with Clapton himself, along with his family, friends, musical collaborators, contemporaries and heroes – including late music icons B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix and George Harrison. The film is directed by Oscar-winner Lili Fini Zanuck with Passion Pictures’ John Battsek (One Day In September, Searching for Sugar Man) amongst the producers. BAFTA winner Chris King (Amy, Senna) serves as editor. [caption id="attachment_23416" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Love Means Zero[/caption] Love Means Zero presents an in-depth look at famed tennis coach Nick Bollettieri. At 85 years old, Bollettieri is a living legend. At his academy in Florida, he raised a generation of champions. Courier. Seles. Agassi. No other coach has matched his success, his dominance or his fame. His greatness, though, came at a terrible price. Broken marriages, financial ruin and perhaps most devastating, a fractured relationship with his surrogate son and most cherished student, Andre Agassi. When Agassi refused to participate in a documentary about his ex-coach, a simple biographical film turned into an investigation of a relationship lost. Love Means Zero not only tells the story of this celebrated yet controversial coach, but also explores the cost of his all-consuming drive for greatness. The film is directed and produced by Jason Kohn. Amanda Branson Gill, Anne White, Jill Mazursky and David Styne also serve as producers.
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ONE OF US, Documentary Exploring Hasidic Judaism, to World Premiere at Toronto International Film Festival

The documentary One of Us, by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (Jesus Camp, Detropia) will have its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival and will launch on Netflix in the Fall. One of Us explores the opaque world of Hasidic Judaism through a cadre of fascinating characters. Through unique and intimate access over the span of three years, acclaimed observational filmmakers Ewing and Grady delve into the lives of three brave individuals who have recently made the decision to leave the insular ultra-orthodox community at the expense of all else, including relationships with their family members and – in one case – their personal safety. With a sensitive and compassionate eye, One of Us chronicles the achingly cinematic journey of people in search of a personal freedom that comes only at a very high cost. “We have always been drawn to stories that put the nature/nurture debate into stark relief. Are some of us just born with an unshakable need to question the status quo, despite the consequences?” said filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady. “The three brave people we chronicle in One of Us buck the exacting rules of their ultra-orthodox community to experience the world for the first time as true individuals. Their journey is a profoundly human one that took us by surprise. We hope audiences are as affected by this story as we are.”
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Ai Weiwei’s Refugee Crisis Documentary HUMAN FLOW Sets Fall Release Date

Human Flow, a moving documentary that looks at the global refugee crisis, directed by world-renowned artist Ai Weiwei, will open in theaters on October 13. It will be released concurrent with the Public Art Fund’s thematically linked New York exhibition Ai Weiwei: Good Fences Make Good Neighbors. The film will also be featured at the upcoming 2017 Venice International Film Festival. Over 65 million people around the world have been forced from their homes to escape famine, climate change and war in the greatest human displacement since World War II. Human Flow, an epic film journey led by Ai Weiwei, gives a powerful visual expression to this massive human migration, elucidating both the staggering scale of the refugee crisis and its profoundly personal human impact. Captured over the course of an eventful year in 23 countries, the film follows a chain of urgent human stories that stretches across the globe in countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, France, Greece, Germany, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, and Turkey. Human Flow is a witness to its subjects and their desperate search for safety, shelter and justice: from teeming refugee camps to perilous ocean crossings to barbed-wire borders; from dislocation and disillusionment to courage, endurance and adaptation; from the haunting lure of lives left behind to the unknown potential of the future. This visceral work of cinema is a testament to the unassailable human spirit and poses one of the questions that will define this century: Will our global society emerge from fear, isolation, and self-interest and choose a path of openness, freedom, and respect for humanity? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWgC5pCR1AE
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Toronto International Film Festival Announces 2017 Documentary Program, Opens with GRACE JONES: BLOODLIGHT & BAMI

[caption id="attachment_23395" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Grace Jones: Bloodlight & Bami[/caption] The Toronto International Film Festival’s 2017 documentary program presents a distinct collection of works from award-winning directors, and will open with Sophie Fiennes’ Grace Jones: Bloodlight & Bami, a film that captures the legendary performer on and off stage. The lineup features celebrated filmmakers, including Morgan Spurlock, who reignites his battle with the food industry in Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!; Brett Morgen, with his portrait of primatologist Jane Goodall in Jane; Greg Barker, who grants viewers unprecedented access into President Barack Obama’s foreign policy team in The Final Year; Frederick Wiseman, who takes us behind the scenes of a New York institution in Ex Libris – The New York Public Library; and Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, who follow three Hasidic Jews who attempt to enter the secular world in One of Us. The TIFF Docs Program is made possible through the generous sponsorship of A+E IndieFilms. “Resistance is a key theme in this year’s documentaries,” said TIFF Docs Programmer Thom Powers. “We pay witness to rebels challenging the status quo in art, politics, sexuality, religion, fashion, sports and entertainment. They speak powerfully to our times as audiences seek inspirations for battling powerful and corrupt systems.” The theme of resistance plays out in a diverse range of films, including Jed Rothstein’s The China Hustle, executive produced by Alex Gibney and Frank Marshall, which confronts a new era of Wall Street fraud; Matt Tyrnauer’s Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood, which profiles the sexual taboo breaker Scotty Bowers; Anjali Nayar and Hawa Essuman’s Silas, which portrays Liberian activist Silas Siakor; and Erika Cohn’s The Judge, which follows the first female Shari’a judge, Kholoud Al-Faqih, practicing law in the West Bank. We gain insights into high-profile figures in the worlds of entertainment and sports in films such as Chris Smith’s JIM & ANDY: the Great Beyond – the story of Jim Carrey & Andy Kaufman featuring a very special, contractually obligated mention of Tony Clifton, which examines Jim Carrey’s immersion into the role of Andy Kaufman; Lili Fini Zanuck’s Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars, which delivers the definitive biography of the rock legend; and Jason Kohn’s Love Means Zero, which investigates the controversial tennis coach Nick Bollettieri and his history with Andre Agassi. Several films deepen our understanding of black cultural figures, including Sam Pollard’s Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me on the complex career of the multi-talented Rat Pack performer; Kate Novack’s The Gospel According to André on the trend-setting fashion writer André Leon Talley; and Sara Driver’s BOOM FOR REAL The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat on the formative years of the acclaimed artist. TIFF Docs upholds its tradition of featuring films and filmmakers from around the world with films such as Violeta Ayala’s Cocaine Prison on the drug trade in Bolivia; Mila Turajlić’s The Other Side of Everything on the dissident activism of her Serbian mother; Hüseyin Tabak’s The Legend of the Ugly King on the Kurdish filmmaker Yilmaz Güney; Sabiha Sumar’s Azmaish: A Journey through the Subcontinent on the politics of India and Pakistan; and Gustavo Salmerón’s Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle on his eccentric family in Spain. The TIFF Docs closing film is Emmanuel Gras’ Makala, which won the Grand Jury prize at Cannes’ Critics Week and portrays the heroic struggles of a subsistence laborer in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The 42nd Toronto International Film Festival runs September 7 to 17, 2017.
2017 TIFF Docs Program include:
Azmaish: A Journey through the Subcontinent Sabiha Sumar, Pakistan North American Premiere BOOM FOR REAL The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat Sara Driver, USA World Premiere The China Hustle Jed Rothstein, USA World Premiere Cocaine Prison Violeta Ayala, Australia/Bolivia/France/USA World Premiere Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars Lili Fini Zanuck, United Kingdom World Premiere Ex Libris – The New York Public Library Frederick Wiseman, USA North American Premiere The Final Year Greg Barker, USA World Premiere The Gospel According to André Kate Novack, USA World Premiere Documentary Program Opening Film. Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami Sophie Fiennes, United Kingdom/Ireland World Premiere JIM & ANDY: the Great Beyond – the story of Jim Carrey & Andy Kaufman featuring a very special, contractually obligated mention of Tony Clifton Chris Smith, USA/Canada North American Premiere Jane Brett Morgen, USA World Premiere The Judge Erika Cohn, Palestine/USA World Premiere The Legend of the Ugly King Hüseyin Tabak, Germany/Austria World Premiere Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle Gustavo Salmerón, Spain North American Premiere Love Means Zero Jason Kohn, USA World Premiere Documentary Program Closing Film. Makala Emmanuel Gras, France North American Premiere OF SHEEP AND MEN Karim Sayad, Switzerland/Qatar World Premiere One of Us Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady, USA World Premiere The Other Side of Everything Mila Turajlić, Serbia/France/Qatar World Premiere Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me Sam Pollard, USA World Premiere Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood Matt Tyrnauer, USA World Premiere Silas Anjali Nayar and Hawa Essuman, Canada/South Africa/Kenya World Premiere Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! Morgan Spurlock, USA World Premiere
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VIDEO: Watch Trailer for A LIFE IN WAVES, Documentary on Electronic Music Pioneer, Suzanne Ciani

[caption id="attachment_20658" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] A LIFE IN WAVES[/caption] A Life in Waves explores the life and innovations of composer and electronic music pioneer, Suzanne Ciani. Gunpowder & Sky will release the SXSW 2017 documentary on VOD nationwide August 4, 2017. From her earliest days learning the piano, to her multi-million dollar advertising ventures, to her successes in the world of New Age music, to her recent re-connection with her beloved Buchla synthesizer, the film is a journey into Suzanne’s mind, offering a feminine glimpse into the often complicated world of electronic music. Utilizing a wealth of archival footage and Suzanne’s endless catalog of music, A Life in Waves is a nostalgic, visually-compelling look at one woman’s journey, and the trials she overcame to succeed in a traditionally male-dominated art form. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puLTePqBlQI
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VIDEO: Watch New Trailer for NATURE BOY, Documentary on Wrestling Legend Ric Flair

ESPN has a released the new trailer for the 30 for 30 documentary “Nature Boy,” on wrestling legend Ric Flair, set to premiere on Tuesday, November 7, at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN. Director Rory Karpf (“I Hate Christian Laettner,” “The Book of Manning”) will take an inside look at Flair’s story, including his triumphs, his tragedies, and his pivotal role in turning pro wrestling into mainstream sports entertainment. Real or Fake? It’s a question that’s long shadowed professional wrestling. But for one of the industry’s most legendary performers, there’s never been any separation between the ring and the world around it. His story starts in the Midwest, when a young Richard Fliehr set his sights on rising to stardom in a unique world, and decided to do anything necessary to get to where he wanted. A character was born, along with a singular desire “to be the man,” and a drive that made him as popular and polarizing as any figure ever to step into the ring. The success took a considerable toll – on his body, and on his wives and children – and in 2013 came a tragic postscript. But today, Flair remains as defiant as ever, proud of his legacy, eager to remain in the spotlight. This is the story of a man, a character, and their unbreakable connection. “This film was basically borne out of working with Rory Karpf on our ‘I Hate Christian Laettner’ documentary,” says 30 for 30 Executive Producer John Dahl. “Rory interviewed Ric for his take on sports villains and wanted to do a film on him next. After watching that interview for the Laettner film, we were convinced that Ric would be a fascinating subject to explore for our first feature-length 30 for 30 on a pro wrestler.” “Nature Boy” features two in-depth conversations between Karpf and Flair over a 16-month span, surrounded by interviews with those closest to the man himself; including Triple H, Hulk Hogan, Ricky Steamboat, Baby Doll, Tully Blanchard, The Undertaker, Arn Anderson, Shawn Michaels, Sting and Road Warrior Animal as well as his first wife, Leslie Jacobs, and children along with others who know Flair best. “I grew up a huge wrestling fan in the 1980s and I was captivated by Ric Flair,” says director Rory Karpf. “It’s been a personally rewarding experience to tell the story of arguably the greatest wrestler of all time. Ric’s story transcends the wrestling business, and my hope is that it will appeal to wrestling and non-wrestling fans alike.”

WOOOOOO!!! Our #30for30, #NatureBoy, on @RicFlairNatrBoy will premiere November 7th on ESPN.
Details: https://t.co/xRepS02iP4 pic.twitter.com/bOasFJWSsp — ESPN Films 30 for 30 (@30for30) July 27, 2017

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Cecilia Aldarondo Delves into the Secrecy Her Uncle’s Death In MEMORIES OF A PENITENT HEART | Trailer

Twenty-five years after her uncle died of AIDS, filmmaker Cecilia Aldarondo delves into the secrecy surrounding his death in the documentary Memories of a Penitent Heart. Memories of a Penitent Heart, which premiered at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival, will have its national broadcast premiere on the PBS documentary series POV (Point of View) on July 31, 2017. Like many gay men in the 1980s, Miguel moved to New York City in search of a life out of the closet; he found a career in theater and a rewarding relationship. Yet in the midst of the AIDS crisis, his devout Catholic mother pressured him to repent for his homosexuality on his deathbed. Twenty-five years later, his niece Cecilia Aldarondo breaks the silence surrounding her uncle’s death, sifting through conflicting memories of a man she never really knew. She locates Miguel’s estranged partner and begins to unlock long-dormant family secrets. Through home movies, audio recordings, family photos, letters and interviews, Cecilia Aldarondo’s Memories of a Penitent Heart reconstructs her uncle Miguel’s New York life, one he lived far from his family, especially his religious mother. Along the way, her investigation untangles a knot of family secrets, denials and repressed conflicts. Born and raised in the 1970s in Puerto Rico, Miguel Dieppa was a gay man eager to leave the island in search of Broadway fame in New York City. Aldarondo’s investigation begins with a two-year search for Miguel’s long-time partner, Bob, who disappeared after Miguel’s funeral. When she eventually finds him, he is living in Pasadena, California, as Father Aquin, a Franciscan monk. Through the reminiscences of Aquin and others who knew him, Miguel emerges as a charismatic and vivacious actor and playwright, struggling to live comfortably in his own skin. We see glimpses into Miguel’s restlessness in his autobiographical play, Island Fever: “I guess that’s a diagnosis for my case. It’s that feeling that creeps on up on those who have known wide spaces, or long to do so.” Miguel seems eternally torn between two identities. His New York friends know him as Michael, a freedom-loving gay thespian, while to his family in Puerto Rico he remains Miguel, the obedient son who downplays his sexuality. Unexpectedly, Miguel begins to get sick, and although he refuses to be tested, telltale skin lesions on his legs indicate AIDS as the underlying illness. Miguel’s illness places Bob on a collision course with Miguel’s mother, Carmen, as the two come to represent opposing faces of faith. Fearing that her son is not yet “dead to life but dead to grace,” Carmen feels Miguel can only find redemption if he repents. Delving into her family’s trove of secrets, Aldarondo’s Memories of a Penitent Heart examines the light and dark sides of faith and how we fight over the memories of those we love. In the director’s intensely personal film, Miguel’s friends and family reflect on their imperfect relationships. Considering her own flaws, Miguel’s sister (Aldarondo’s mother) Nylda reflects, “The bottom line is that we all need to survive and we use different ways of surviving, according to our gifts, our limitations and our circumstances.” That prompts her daughter to ask, “Can’t we survive and look out for others as well?” Memories of a Penitent Heart is a brave and honest exhumation of buried resentments that ultimately reveals how reflections on grief, betrayal and love bring us closer to reconciliation.
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Mickey Lemle’s THE LAST DALAI LAMA? Takes a Fresh Look at the 14th Dalai Lama at 80 | Trailer

THE LAST DALAI LAMA? from filmmaker Mickey Lemle grants viewers intimate access to the Dalai Lama and those who have been touched by his vast influence from George W. Bush to the film’s accomplished composer, Philip Glass. The film will open at IFC Center in New York City on Friday, July 28. THE LAST DALAI LAMA? takes a fresh look at what is truly important for the 14th Dalai Lama at 80: The ongoing confrontation between Tibetans and China; His Holiness’s influence in political and spiritual spheres; his work with educators and neuropsychologists; and his personal feelings on aging, dying and the question: Will there be a fifteenth Dalai Lama, or will he be the last Dalai Lama? The film artfully weaves sequences from director Mickey Lemle’s groundbreaking film COMPASSION IN EXILE: The Story of The 14th Dalai Lama (1992), with contemporary footage including intimate interviews with His Holiness and follow up questions shot decades apart; accounts from The Dalai Lama’s family and close friends; and conversations with those he’s inspired since his exile from Tibet in 1959. The Dalai Lama’s impact on the West has grown over the 25 years since Lemle’s earlier film. In THE LAST DALAI LAMA? we see teachers in British Columbia incorporating “Emotional Intelligence” and non-violent conflict resolution in grade school classes, and neuropsychologists and behavioral therapists who have begun using cutting edge technology to research how to overcome negative afflictive emotions like anger and hatred. Original music score composed and performed by Philip Glass and Tibetan music phenom, Tenzin Choegyal.
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MACHINES, Rahul Jain Sundance Award Winning Debut Film, Sets U.S. Release Date | Trailer

Machines, the debut documentary film from director Rahul Jain, and winner of the Special Jury Award for Cinematography at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival will be released in the U.S. beginning Wednesday, August 9, at New York’s Film Forum. The film is set to expand nationwide in September, 2017. Returning to his childhood home of Sachin in India’s Gujarat state, Rahul Jain documents a striking visual paradox: intensely sensual images of colorful fabrics produced in a Dickensian factory in which men and children work tirelessly for a pittance, some barefoot. They are some of the 45 million workers that support the $40 billion Indian textile and garment industries. Punctuating stunning Steadicam shots, where Mr. Jain’s camera takes viewers into dark, damp and sometimes fiery working spaces, are sparse and sharp testimonials from the workers describing their own experiences – as well as their failed efforts at improving working conditions. One man asks rhetorically: “But what is poverty anyway? Poverty is harassment, Sir.” Uniquely combining ravishing visuals with social advocacy, Machines weaves a moving portrait of people toiling amid pulsating machines, bubbling vats of dye, and colorful, billowing cascades of textiles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkV-eeXrlUg
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Jennifer Brea’s Sundance Award-Winning Documentary UNREST Gets a Fall Release

The Sundance award-winning film Unrest in which Jennifer Brea documents her fight to overcome Myalgic Encephalomyelitis aka Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, will be released in the US in the Fall. The will open in New York on September 22, followed by Los Angeles and San Francisco on September 29, with a nationwide release to select cities to follow. Unrest will open in theaters in the U.K. on October 20. This was first exclusively reported by Variety. Unrest world premiered in the documentary competition at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Prize for editing. It has since screened at SxSW, CPH:DOX, HotDocs, River Run (Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature), Nashville Film Festival (Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature), and the Sheffield Doc/Fest (Illuminate Award), among other festivals. Jennifer Brea is an active Harvard PhD student about to marry the love of her life when suddenly her body starts failing her. Hoping to shed light on her strange symptoms, Jennifer grabs a camera and films the darkest moments unfolding before her eyes as she is derailed by M.E. (commonly known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), a mysterious illness some still believe is “all in your head.” In this story of love and loss, newlyweds Jennifer and Omar search for answers as they face unexpected obstacles with great heart. Often confined by her illness to the private space of her bed, Jen is moved to connect with others around the globe. Utilizing Skype, she unlocks a forgotten community with intimate portraits of four other families suffering similarly. Jennifer Brea’s wonderfully honest portrayal asks us to rethink the stigma around an illness that affects millions of people. Unrest is a vulnerable and eloquent personal documentary that is sure to hit closer to home than many could imagine.
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BRILLO BOX (3 CENTS OFF) on Journey of Andy Warhol Sculpture Makes HBO Debut | Trailer

Brillo Box (3 Cents Off), tracks the remarkable journey of an Iconic Andy Warhol sculpture from one family’s living room through the global art market. In 1969, Lisanne Skyler’s parents bought an Andy Warhol “Brillo Box (3 Cents Off)” sculpture for $1,000. An exact replica of a shipping carton for Brillo soap pads, Warhol’s Brillo Boxes were at first dismissed by the art world. But 40 years later, with Warhol’s reputation as a contemporary-art visionary long secured, the same piece sold for more than $3 million at a record-breaking Christie’s auction. Blending a humorous family narrative with Pop Art history, and debuting the week of Warhol’s 89th birthday, Brillo Box (3 Cents OFF) follows this iconic work as it makes its way from a New York family’s living room to the contemporary global art market, exploring the ephemeral nature of art and value, and the decisions that shape a family’s history. An official selection of the 54th New York Film Festival, the documentary debuts Monday, August 7 (10:00-10:40 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO. In 1964, Andy Warhol shocked the art world by making hundreds of replicas of supermarket shipping cartons and presenting them as art. His most notorious were the Brillo Boxes, which he created by silk-screening the original Brillo packaging art, designed by abstract impressionist James Harvey, onto wooden boxes that were the exact same sizes as the supermarket originals. It is believed Warhol made 93 large white boxes and 17 smaller yellow ones. Originally selling for $200, a yellow Brillo Box emblazoned with a “3 Cents OFF” burst was purchased for $1,000 from the OK Harris Gallery in New York in 1969 by Martin and Rita Skyler. Looking to add value to his acquisition, Martin Skyler persuaded gallery owner Ivan Karp to get Warhol to sign the bottom of the piece, which was not Warhol’s customary practice at the time. Parents of an infant daughter, Lisanne, the Skylers spent two years with the Brillo Box, which Martin placed inside Plexiglas to prevent damage. Looking for fresh art to augment their collection, he decided to trade the Brillo Box for a drawing by abstract artist Peter Young in 1971. Forty years after the Skylers sold their Brillo Box, Lisanne Skyler, now a filmmaker, learned it was going to be auctioned in New York at Christie’s. She filmed the auction, and, combining that footage with archival video, reenactments and interviews with her parents and contemporary art world figures, began to reconstruct her family’s Brillo Box history. After Warhol’s death in 1987, interest in his work started to build; starting in 1995, prices for his art doubled annually for more than a decade. In 1988, London advertising magnate Charles Saatchi bought the Skylers’ Brillo Box for $35,200; five years later, the piece was sold to a private collector for $43,700 and returned to New York. Two years later, in a soft art market, Robert Shapazian, one of the world’s foremost collectors of modern art and the founding director of the Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles, bought the piece for the same price, and kept it until his death in 2010. When the Brillo Box went on sale again that year, Christie’s estimated it would fetch between $600,000 to $800,000, its value enhanced by the condition and provenance, including Warhol’s signature and the ownership of Saatchi and Shapazian. Following an international bidding war, however, the Skylers’ Brillo Box sold to a private collector for $2,650,000. The addition of a $400,500 buyer’s premium brought the final price tag to a staggering $3,050,500. While Martin maintains a stoic front about the loss of such a treasure, a more regretful Rita recalls the personal memories it evokes. In addition to interviews with Martin and Rita Skyler, BRILLO BOX (3 Cents OFF) includes insights from several high-profile names in the contemporary art world, including: Laura Paulson, chairman, Americas at Christie’s; Jessica Todd Smith, the Susan Gray Detweiler Curator of American Art and Manager of the Center for American Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; art critic and historian Irving Sandler; Eric Shiner, former director of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh; writer, curator and dealer Kenny Schachter; artist Nancy Mozur; artist and teacher Phung Huynh; Daniel Wolf, producer of “Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film”; John Armaly, president and CEO of Armaly Brands, owner of the Brillo brand; and Peter Young, the artist whose work replaced the Brillo Box in the Skyler home.
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Documentary

2017 TIFF Docs Program include: