Love Means Zero

Tennis coach Nick Bollettieri trained some of the sport’s greatest champions, but his volatility and harsh methods came at a price. Conversations between director and subject revisit moments of triumph and anguish, including Bollettieri’s infamous falling out with Andre Agassi.

Directed by Jason Kohn

Starring Nick Bollettieri, Andre Agassi, Carling Bassett

Genre(s) Documentary Film

2017 Camden International Film Festival Announces Lineup, Opens with World Premiere of SHOT IN THE DARK

[caption id="attachment_23992" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Shot in the Dark by Dustin Nakao Haider[/caption] The 2017 Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) will take place September 14 to 17, 2017 throughout Camden, Rockport and Rockland, Maine, and present 37 features, 35 short films, and a dozen virtual reality experiences from 30 countries. Keeping with CIFF’s mission to discover and support new talent in nonfiction filmmaking, over half of the lineup’s 37 features are made by first- or second-time filmmakers. CIFF will open with the world premiere of Dustin Nakao Haider’s Shot in the Dark. Additional highlights include titles making their US debut following premieres at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival (Love Means Zero, Eric Clapton: Life In 12 Bars, Cocaine Prison), the North American premieres of films coming from Locarno (Sand und Blut, Did You Wonder Who Fired The Gun?) and Venice (This Is Congo), award-winning films from Visions du Reel (Taste of Cement, All That Passes By Through a Window That Doesn’t Open) and Berlin (El Mar La Mar, House In The Fields, Devil’s Freedom) alongside some of the year’s top documentaries (Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, Whose Streets?, The Work). The 13th Camden International Film Festival is a program of the Points North Institute. This year, eight projects that have participated in the Points North Institute’s Artist Programs will be screening at CIFF. These titles include All That Passes By Through A Window That Doesn’t Open, No Man’s Land, The Cage Fighter, The Family I Had, The Reagan Show, The Sensitives, Whose Streets? and Commodity City. These films have garnered awards and debuted at prestigious festivals including Sundance, Locarno, Tribeca, Rotterdam, and Visions du Reel. “Screening at CIFF this year feels like a homecoming,” says Sabaah Folayan, Director of Whose Streets?, distributed by Magnolia Pictures. “This community believed in our project when it was still just an idea and it means everything to be able to come back and share the finished film.” This year also features an expanded 2nd edition of Storyforms: Remixing Reality, CIFF’s exhibition of VR, immersive media, and installations. For the first time, Storyforms will present “room-scale” and “walk-around” VR experiences. Highlights include Tree by Milica Zec and Winslow Porter, which comes to CIFF after showing at Sundance, Tribeca and Cannes. Storyforms will also include a sneak preview of the latest groundbreaking walk-around VR experience produced in a new collaboration between FRONTLINE PBS and Nonny de la Peña’s Emblematic Group, which brings climate change to life as never before, allowing viewers to travel alongside NASA scientists to a place where the glaciers are melting faster and faster.
2017 Camden International Film Festival Features
SHOT IN THE DARK – Opening Night Film Dustin Nakao Haider | United States | 96 mins Orr Academy’s basketball court is a haven. Outside, it’s a neighborhood racked with gangs and violence. Though each player has his own struggle, they’ll need to fight together if they ever want to break out. World Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance 69 Minutes of 86 Days Egil Håskjold Larsen | Norway | 71 mins A 3-year-old girl and her family’s long journey from a Greek refugee centre to Uppsala, in a film that gives the tragedy both a form and a face. US Premiere A River Below Mark Grieco | USA, Colombia | 86 mins A River Below captures the Amazon in all its complexity as it examines the actions of environmental activists using the media in an age where truth is a relative term. Filmmaker in Attendance Abacus: Small Enough to Jail Steve James | USA | 88 mins From acclaimed director Steve James, ABACUS tells the incredible family saga of the only U.S. bank to face criminal charges in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Filmmaker in Attendance All That Passes By Through a Window That Doesn’t Open Martin DiCicco | USA, Qatar | 70 mins A journey by rail where workers reflect upon opportunity and regret, floating through a Eurasian expanse striving to fill their days and dreams, as much as their pockets. North American Premiere / PNI Alumni | Filmmaker in Attendance Behold the Earth David Conover | USA | 63 mins A feature-length musical documentary film that inquires into America’s divorce from nature, built out of conversations with leading biologists and evangelical Christians. Filmmaker in Attendance Bobbi Jene Elvira Lind | Denmark. Sweden, Israel, USA | 96 mins A love story, and a film about a woman’s fight for independence, a woman trying to succeed with her own art in the extremely competitive world of dance. Filmmaker in Attendance Cocaine Prison Violeta Ayala | Australia, Bolivia, France & USA | 76 mins From inside one of Bolivia’s most infamous prisons, comes the story of the foot soldiers of the drug trade. US Premiere | Filmmakers in Attendance Common Carrier James N. Kienitz Wilkins | USA | 78 mins A mix of artists struggle to perform their roles, at once connected and alienated by the plague of modern life. Filmmaker in Attendance Devil’s Freedom Everardo González | Mexico | 74 mins A deeply compelling investigation into the phenomenon of Mexico’s “disappeared” from the perspectives of those bereaved by, and those responsible for, some truly barbaric acts. Did You Wonder Who Fired The Gun? Travis Wilkerson | USA | 90 mins This isn’t a White Savior story. It’s a White Nightmare story. North American Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance Do Donkeys Act? Ashley Sabin, David Redmon | UK | 72 mins A film that subtly subverts the notion of the “dumb beast” as it captures donkeys communicating emotionally with each other in the midst of healing from human cruelty and neglect. Filmmakers in Attendance El Mar La Mar Joshua Bonnetta, J.P. Sniadecki | USA | 94 mins A portrait of the Sonoran Desert along the United States border with Mexico. Filmmakers in Attendance Eric Clapton: Life In 12 Bars Lili Fini Zanuck | USA | 95 mins A look at the life and work of guitarist Eric Clapton told by those who have known him best, including BB King, Jimi Hendrix, and George Harrison. US Premiere House in the Fields Tala Hadid | Morocco, Qatar | 86 mins House in the Fields is the first part of a triptych set in Morocco, that starts in the Atlas Mountains, journeys through Casablanca and finishes beyond the borders. US Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance In the Waves Jacquelyn Mills | Canada (Québec) | 60 mins An expressive documentary that depicts the life of 80 years old Joan Alma Mills in her aging coastal village as she finds herself confronted by the fragility of life. North American Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance Let There Be Light Mila Aung-Thwin, Van Royko | Canada, France, Italy, Switzerland, USA | 90 mins Let There Be Light follows the story of dedicated scientists working to build a small sun on Earth, which would unleash perpetual, cheap, clean energy for mankind. After decades of failed attempts, a massive push is now underway to crack the holy grail of energy. Filmmaker in Attendance Look & See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry Laura Dunn, Jef Sewell | USA | 80 mins A cinematic portrait of farmer and writer Wendell Berry. Through his eyes, we see both the changing landscapes of rural America in the era of industrial agriculture and the redemptive beauty in taking the unworn path. Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle Gustavo Salmerón | Spain | 90 mins A bustling, loose-limbed portrait of actor-director Gustavo Salmerón’s large family, especially his unforgettable mom. US Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance Love Means Zero Jason Kohn | USA | 89 mins Nick Bollettieri coached a generation of tennis champions, but his relentless desire to win cost him the relationship he valued most. US Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance Maineland Miao Wang | China, USA | 89 mins Chinese students now account for over one-third to one-half of international secondary school students, including in a small liberal arts college in Maine. Filmmaker in Attendance No Man’s Land David Byars | USA | 83 mins Embedded with the militants of the 2016 occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, NO MAN’S LAND provides a vivid depiction of events that have become emblematic of the current political divide. PNI Alumni | Filmmaker in Attendance Purge This Land Lee Anne Schmitt | USA | 80 mins Contemplating the culpability of White America in the ongoing disenfranchisement of Black America, this film combines images of sites of white racial violence with anecdotal history of John Brown’s radical ethics. Sneak Preview | Filmmaker in Attendance Quest Jonathan Olshefski | USA | 104 mins The moving portrait of a family in North Philadelphia who open the door to their home music studio, which serves as a creative sanctuary from the strife that grips their neighborhood.Filmmaker in Attendance Resurrecting Hassan Carlo Guillermo Proto | Canada, Chile | 100 mins A blind family is haunted by the tragic death of their son Hassan and seek to resurrect his spirit and transcend their suffering, while singing in the subways of Montreal. Filmmaker in Attendance Sand und Blut (Sand and Blood) Matthias Krepp, Angelika Spangel | Austria | 90 mins Private video footage narrated by refugees now living in Europe offers a new and intimate perspective on Syria and Iraq’s recent history: a montage of haunting images of devastation, fear, and hatred. North American Premiere | Filmmakers in Attendance Secret Screening Academy-Award Winning Director | USA A gripping investigation by one of the country’s most celebrated directors. Sneak Preview | Filmmaker in Attendance Shot in the Dark Dustin Nakao Haider | USA | 96 mins Orr Academy’s basketball court is a haven. Outside, it’s a neighborhood racked with gangs and violence. Though each player has his own struggle, they’ll need to fight together if they ever want to break out. Opening Night Film | World Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance Stranger in Paradise Guido Hendrikx | Netherlands | 72 mins A blunt film essay on the power relations between Europe and refugees. Filmmaker in Attendance Taste of Cement Ziad Kalthoum | Germany, Lebanon, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Qatar | 85 mins In Beirut, Syrian construction workers are building a skyscraper while at the same time their own houses at home are being shelled. North American Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance The Cage Fighter Jeff Unay | USA | 83 mins Although a man promises his wife and daughters that he will not return to competitive mixed martial arts fighting, he secretly begins training for the dangerous sport that gives him a sense of purpose. PNI Alumni | Filmmaker in Attendance The Departure Lana Wilson | USA | 87 mins Ittetsu Nemoto, a former punk-turned-Buddhist-priest in Japan, has made a career out of helping suicidal people find reasons to live. Filmmaker in Attendance The Family I Had Katie Green, Carlye Rubin | USA | 77 mins How does the mother to a murdered child and the murderer himself move forward, and what kind of relationship can she forge with her now incarcerated son? PNI Alumni | Filmmakers in Attendance The Reagan Show Pacho Velez, Sierra Pettengill | USA | 75 mins Made up entirely of archival news and White House footage, this documentary captures the pageantry, absurdity, and mastery of the made-for-TV politics of Ronald Reagan. PNI Alumni | Filmmakers in Attendance The Sensitives Drew Xanthopoulos | USA | 83 mins What if modern life made you sick? PNI Alumni | Filmmaker in Attendance The Work Jairus McLeary, Gethin Aldous | USA | 87 mins Set entirely inside Folsom State Prison, “The Work” follows 3 men during 4 days of intensive group therapy with convicts, revealing an intimate and powerful portrait of authentic human transformation that transcends what we think of as rehabilitation. Filmmakers in Attendance This is Congo Daniel McCabe | USA | 93 mins Following four compelling characters, the film offers a truly Congolese perspective and an immersive exploration into Africa’s longest continuing conflict. North American Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance Whose Streets? Sabaah Folayan, Damon Davis | USA | 90 mins “Portrait of Ferguson May Be the Doc of the Year: Powerful you-are-there portrait of how a community raged in the aftermath of tragedy – and reacted with activism – could not be more vital” – Rolling Stone PNI Alumni | Filmmakers in Attendance
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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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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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