New York, NY (July 14, 2010) The Wagner/Cuban Companies’ Magnolia Pictures announced today that it has acquired world rights to Oscar-nominee Casey Affleck’s directorial debut, I’m Still Here, a striking portrayal of a tumultuous year in the life of internationally acclaimed actor Joaquin Phoenix. With remarkable access, I’m Still Here follows the Oscar-nominee as he announces his retirement from a successful film career in the fall of 2008 and sets off to reinvent himself as a hip hop musician. Sometimes funny, sometimes shocking, and always riveting, the film is a portrait of an artist at a crossroads. Defying expectations, it deftly explores notions of courage and creative reinvention, as well as the ramifications of a life spent in the public eye.

Magnolia will release I’m Still Here on Friday, September 10th.

The deal was negotiated by Magnolia’s SVP Tom Quinn, Acquisitions VP Dori Begley and Head of Business Affairs Chris Matson, with Liesl Copland for WME Global.

The Never-Before-Told Story About The Controversial Riots That Gave Birth To Gay Pride

New York, NY (March 26, 2010) — First Run Features announced today that it has secured the theatrical rights to the upcoming film Stonewall Uprising. Directed by award-winning documentary veterans and frequent collaborators Kate Davis (“Waiting for Armageddon,” “Southern Comfort”) and David Heilbroner (“Waiting for Armageddon,” “Pucker Up”), the film chronicles the remarkable story of the night of June 28, 1969 when a police raid at Greenwich Village’s famous Stonewall Inn, incited the gay and lesbian population to finally fight back.

“This film captures the ‘Rosa Parks’ moment that began one of the most important civil rights movements of modern times,” comments Kate Davis. “Having worked with First Run Features before, we knew this would be another perfect fit and we couldn’t be happier with the advance reception the film is garnering from the exhibitors,” commented David Heilbroner.

Stonewall Uprising will premiere at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival prior to its theatrical run which begins on June 16th in New York at Film Forum. Timed to coincide with the nation’s Pride celebrations, the film opens in over forty markets the following weeks.

“The tension, the danger, the bravery and the exhilaration of successfully standing up to oppression are all captured brilliantly and passionately in this definitive film,” Seymour Wishman, President of First Run Features stated. “We are proud to be representing Stonewall Uprising.”

Based on Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution by David Carter, the film was produced by WGBH for the PBS American Experience series.

Stonewall Uprising is Davis and Heilbroner’s sixth documentary together.

Theatrical Release to Begin February 2010

First Run Features announced today its acquisition of The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellsberg And The Pentagon Papers, the acclaimed feature documentary from co-filmmakers Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith. Just announced as the co-winner of the Freedom of Expression Award from the National Board of Review (and also named one of their Five Best Documentaries of the Year), winner last week of the Special Jury Award at IDFA, and in contention for the Best Documentary Oscar, The Most Dangerous Man In America will begin to roll out theatrically in February, 2010, in cities across the country. First Run has acquired all theatrical, semi-theatrical, home video and internet rights.

In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg, a high-level Pentagon official and Vietnam War strategist, concludes that the war is based on decades of lies and leaks 7,000 pages of top secret documents to The New York Times, making headlines around the world.

The Most Dangerous Man In America is the riveting story of how one man’s profound change of heart created a landmark struggle involving America’s newspapers, its president and Supreme Court – a political thriller whose events led directly to Watergate, Nixon’s resignation and the end of the Vietnam War. With Daniel Ellsberg, Patricia Ellsberg, Tony Russo, Howard Zinn, Hedrick Smith, John Dean, and, from the secret White House tapes, Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, who called Ellsberg “the most dangerous man in America.”

The Most Dangerous Man In America had Oscar-qualifying theatrical runs in New York and Los Angeles in September; First Run will bring back the film to those cities and open it in other cities around the country. Stay tuned for dates and venues.

Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith, co-producers and co-directors of The Most Dangerous Man In America, are nationally known documentary filmmakers whose cogent and inspirational films deal with the themes of personal risk, conscience, dissent and commitment to ideals.

Goldsmith produced and directed the Academy-Award nominated documentary feature Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press, a piercing look at censorship and suppression in the media, which was broadcast nationwide on public television and on the Sundance Channel. He co-directed Everyday Heroes, an incisive profile of AmeriCorps (the domestic Peace Corps), and wrote and edited Soul of Justice: Thelton Henderson’s American Journey, about the pioneering and controversial African-American jurist.

Ehrlich co-produced and co-directed the ITVS documentary, The Good War and Those Who Refused to Fight It, a story of men guided by principle to take the unpopular position of pacifism in the face of World War II. This revealing look at questions of war, conscience, activism and the spiritual life of committed individuals was broadcast nationally on PBS in 2002 and 2007. In 2003, The Good War won both major US history film awards and was selected for over a dozen major international film festivals.

Co-Director Rick Goldsmith said, “First Run impressed us with their enthusiasm for our film’s content, themes and story-telling. Their track record of promoting films of social and political import is unparalleled in the industry.”

Co-Director Judith Ehrlich added, “First Run demonstrated a unique level of enthusiasm and understanding of the film’s potential for sparking an important national dialogue critical both today and in the months ahead.”

First Run Features VP Marc Mauceri commented, “We’re thrilled beyond words about having the chance to work with Judy and Rick on the release of one of the most enthralling and entertaining documentaries we’ve seen in years.” First Run Features is a leading distributor of documentary and foreign art house films that recently celebrated its 30th anniversary with a retrospective at the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

A film that explores why sports, generally, and basketball, in particular, is about more than the Xs and Os; More Than A Game poignantly focuses on the lessons learned and the bonds formed through participation in athletics.

The heart and soul of the documentary is Coach Dru Joyce and his passion and dedication to molding young men that happen to bounce a rock really, really well. Kudos to the filmmakers for crafting a film that pays homage to the legacy of the team that led to coronation of King James. (M. Lowe; MOSAEC.com)

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By Marona Lowe

Good Hair is a film that delves
most deeply into the sorority that some Black women have pledged
for years, combing through its tangled roots while also weaving a
contemporary tale with tracks from the Far East to the West Coast.
A mix of man-among-the-masses chats, one-on-one interviews and
investigative reports, Good Hair is a docu-comedy that entertains
as it teaches and preaches.

Personalities such as Eve, Ice-T, Maya Angelou, Nia Long,
Raven-Symone, Reverend Al Sharpton and Salt-n-Pepa sit down with
the comedian and talk hair, economics and intimacy. When Rock is
not interviewing celebs, he is out and about, researching the Black
hair industry and interviewing its purveyors, proprietors and
consumers.

A provocative documentary, Good Hair has its limitations. It
focuses on what is commonplace with a subset of contemporary Black
women while failing to fully embrace and spotlight the many Black
women who are comfortable with their natural hair and who have hair
that grow as long as Rapunzel’s locks (not because they purchase
it, but because their genes make it so).

The film also gives short shrift to the complicated history of
Black hair care and makes broad statements about Black women and
their hair that are not universally true. (i.e., the
intimacy-limiting, no-touch hair zone and the penchant to relax and
weave as indicative of race envy).

Take Good Hair for what it is – a narrowly-focused Black hair
documentary with a heavy dose of comedy. For a fuller exposition of
Nubian hair management, economics and history, check out:

• Stanley Nelson’s Two Dollars and a Dream: The Story of Madame
  C.J. Walker;
• Aron Ranen’s "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p96aaTSdrAE" target="_blank">Black
  Hair Documentary (which explores the entities that control the
  black hair business);
• Soledad O’Brien’s "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1WC6LshsIU" target="_blank">Black
  In America (featuring a brief segment on the diversity of Black
  hair care); and
• Regina Kimbell and Jay Bluemke’s "http://my.mosaec.com/video/trailer-my-nappy-roots-a" target=
  "_blank">My Nappy ROOTS: A Journey Through Black Hair-itage (an
  award-winning, 2005 documentary that addresses the history, culture
  and economics of Black hair).

M

October 2009

Bowdon’s Film Uncovered How The State Department Of Education Was Unfairly Denying Charter School Applications In An Apparent Attempt To Curry Favor With The Powerful Teacher Union

New Jersey (September 23, 2009) Wednesday afternoon, NJ Governor Jon Corzine’s press release cited a “record” number of new charter schools approved for the year, in direct response to the documentary film The Cartel. The movie shows how Corzine’s state department of education has systematically rejected new charter school applications in the past, sometimes only on the basis of clerical errors, to protect jobs among the state’s teachers’ unions.

The Cartel has been making waves all around the state. In June, it won the audience award at the Hoboken International Film Festival, and in July it won both the Jury Award and Audience Choice Award as Best Feature Documentary at the Jersey Shore Film Festival. It is also an official selection of the New Jersey Film Festival and will be shown this Friday night as a part of that festival’s program at Rutgers University.

The Director of The Cartel, Bob Bowdon, said “First, it’s instructive to note that the grand total of 8 new charters schools, less than a third of the applicants, constitutes a ‘record.’ And while these 8 new charter schools will likely offer some excellent new options for parents & students in a few towns, it’s obviously barely a drop in the bucket. For anyone to believe there’s been real reform of the charter approval process, the Department of Education should have to publish its reasons for rejecting the 19 other applications. That would allow applicants, parents and voters to assess the decisions, and decide for themselves whether these rejected schools shouldn’t have even been offered to parents as options or alternatives to the existing district schools.”

Bowdon says, “Still, today’s news of eight new charter schools is at least better than the one new charter school that was approved in 2008. The Cartel documentary has clearly been putting pressure on the NJ Department of Education.”

“There are simply two approaches to these decisions, transparency or secrecy, and today’s announcement does nothing to change a charter school approval process that is mysterious by design.”

“What New Jersey really needs,” Bowdon says, “is multiple charter authorizers. In New York state, for example, a school can obtain its charter from the NY State Department of Education, a local school district, or SUNY. And New York isn’t unique; many states across the country allow different groups like universities or community groups to grant school charters. But in New Jersey, no such luck. In New Jersey, power has been consolidated to just one authorizer — the State Department of Education. That bureaucratic bottleneck, originally put in place to appease the teachers’ unions, must be broken.”

Hollywood, CA (August 28, 2009) — Big Screen Entertainment (OTC:BSEG) has announced that its new documentary, “William Shatner’s Gonzo Ballet,” has been accepted into four more film festivals, spanning three countries, with even more fests on the horizon.

We are certainly pleased with the enthusiastic critical response to Gonzo Ballet,” stated Big Screen CEO Kimberley Kates. “We will be announcing the specific festivals individually over the coming weeks once the official schedules are finalized. Suffice it to say that they are all respected venues, and represent the United States, Canada and Spain.”

The documentary, a co-production with Shatner’s Melis Productions and Special Entertainment offers a fascinating look into the iconic actor’s music career, and features performances by Ben Folds, Brad Paisley, Henry Rollins and Joe Jackson. The ballet was choreographed by Margo Sappington.

“Gonzo Ballet” had its festival premiere at the Nashville Film Festival, where it received an excellent review from Variety. Negotiations are currently underway for multiple distribution channels.

Big Screen’s sensational vampire thriller, “Sodium Babies,” and the award winning, action packed film, “Target Practice,” have also received additional festival attention and awards.

“Sodium Babies,” directed by the French directing team, The Deka Brothers, is piling up stellar reviews. The Deka Brothers recently signed agency deals with the newly formed WME (William Morris Endeavor Entertainment) for representation.

Big Screen is currently distributing “Sodium Babies,” “Target Practice,” “Rule of Three” and numerous other titles. US Domestic releases for Big Screen’s titles are scheduled for early 2010. More information on BSEG’s DVD and other platform releases are scheduled to be announced soon.

Greg Bennick, a nationally recognized speaker, film producer and musician based in Seattle, is just back from premiering his acclaimed film “The Philosopher Kings” at the AFI/Discovery Channel Silverdocs Film Festival in Washington, D.C.

Seattle, WA (July 2, 2009) Greg Bennick, a nationally recognized speaker, film producer and musician based in Seattle, is just back from premiering his acclaimed film “The Philosopher Kings” at the AFI/Discovery Channel Silverdocs Film Festival in Washington, D.C.

The film’s premiere was sold out, as was a second screening that played to an audience of 400 people. The film was brought back for a unique third screening by audience request. Bennick, the producer of the film, was on-hand for an extensive question-and-answer session with each audience.

“The Philosopher Kings” offers a voice for those in our society who would otherwise be voiceless, invisible, and ignored. The film explores the kind of wisdom that gets us through our day-to-day lives, giving us perspective on how to view our lives as seen through the suffering and hardships that others have survived. To seek out this knowledge, Bennick and his team profiled eight extraordinary people who work at prestigious U.S. universities…as custodians. The film documents their lives in these halls of wisdom, exploring their triumphs and tragedies in a poignant, moving and insightful way. The film will now tour the United States, as a means of inspiring young people to look differently at who their heroes are, what defines a hero, and how we marginalize or overlook people as a result of culturally ingrained stereotyping.

“The Philosopher Kings is a deeply human exploration of the people we never see,” said Jason Silva, host/producer of Current TV. “Look out for it. It’s brilliant!”

The Philosopher Kings was produced by Transcendental Media, an independent motion picture company based in Long Beach, Calif. and Seattle with whom Bennick partners on important creative projects.

Bennick, 38, launched his career after earning a fine arts degree from Cornish College of the Arts. Since 1995, he’s been the lead singer of the straight-edge hardcore band Trial, based in Seattle. Two years ago, he garnered international acclaim as producer of the award-winning documentary, “Flight from Death.” He is the co-founder of the global World Leaders Project, which has initiated important dialogue on human violence with world leaders. He has addressed more than two million people around the world as a speaker and musician. Greg Bennick’s website is gregbennick.com.

The Philosopher Kings website is philosopherkingsmovie.com

To view a trailer of the movie, see http://philosopherkingsmovie.com/media/

Trailer for the documentary, Wu: The Story of The Wu-Tang Clan.