June 2008 Dear Friends & Colleagues I hope the summer is off to a good start for all of you. The US Primary Election season made for fascinating media-watching this Spring but we’re glad it’s finally over and delighted that Barack Obama is the presumptive Democratic nominee. There seem to be promising signs that some measure of political and social change is in the offing, so we hold onto hope! Now that full summer weather is upon us, the vegetable garden is well underway, the flowerbeds making a splash of color and our thoughts are turning to the beach, there is time to rewind and fill you in on the first six months of the year. The New Year got off to a great start with some exciting adventures and news. Clients Peter Galison and Robb Moss’ film SECRECY had its World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and a lot of buzz followed what were some of the festival’s liveliest Q&A sessions. Representing LRL at Sundance was our dear colleague Dominic Musacchio. Dom made the rounds with our client Lisa Leeman (producer of CRAZY WISDOM the first film on the “bad boy of Buddhism” Chogyam Trungpa). He and Lisa met with commissioning editors and had the pleasure of seeing a lot of films. Lisa and Director Johanna Demetrakas have now shot about 85% of CRAZY WISDOM, gained access to some extraordinary archive and confirmed the participation of some very high profile figures. We’re eagerly awaiting CRAZY WISDOM, a film that will deeply engage our assumptions of what we expect from spiritual leaders.
The “bad boy of LRL”, Dominic Musacchio on location in Park City, Utah In January we began our representation of Mike Todd and Geseth Garcia’s JOE FRAZIER: WHEN THE SMOKE CLEARS the first ever in-depth film on the life of one of the world’s greatest athletes. Joe is a living icon, devoted to helping young boxers at his gym in Philadelphia. But he has long lived in the shadow of his archrival, Muhammad Ali and in some ways, Joe was marked forever by their public clashes. I came to know Mike, Geseth and the project during the 2007 Discovery Campus Master School and we’re proud to say the project is being supported by Hans Robert Eisenhauer at ZDF-Arte with some additional international pre-sales now in the works.
January also brought some great fundraising news for several of our clients. Jenny Levison and Josh Waletzky’s PARTING THE WATERS was awarded a grant from the LEF Foundation. Two projects were awarded ITVS funds – Natalia Alamda’s EL GENERAL and Vangie Griego’s GOD WILLING. In February, I attended the Berlin Film Festival for the first time since before the Wall came down! What an amazing trip it was. I was there with an old friend and new client, Andrea Kreuzhage and her wonderful film 1000 JOURNALS, selected for the Special section of the Berlinale. The film has since gone on to numerous other film festivals including Newport Beach, Indianapolis and San Francisco and enjoys sold out screenings wherever it appears. 1000 JOURNALS has now been booked for a theatrical run in San Francisco in August with more festival news expected soon!
... and here at the Sundance reception. Louise talking politics with Geoff Gilmore, director of the Sundance Film Festival. Also in Berlin was SECRECY, which was presented in the “Straight From Sundance” section of Berlin’s European Film Market. SECRECY has since been presented at SXSW, Tribeca and San Francisco. And, it’s on its way to Jerusalem, Warsaw, Vancouver and Rio! Here in Maine we were enjoying record snowfalls this winter, up until I severed my ACL skiing in February! Being relegated to the couch made a cozy atmosphere for viewing various cuts of our projects as they were nearing completion. Jason Berry’s VOWS OF SILENCE: FATHER MACIEL AND THE LEGION OF CHRIST was finishing and was invited to premiere at the New Orleans International Film Festival. Maciel died in January at the age of 87 in seclusion, mandated by Pope Benedict in response to decades of allegations that Maciel was a sexual predator and drug addict. The timing for the film’s festival release was ideal, with the Pope’s upcoming visit to the US gathering increasing press attention. The month of March brought fantastic news - Paul Devlin’s BLAST! was selected for the HotDocs International Film festival, as was Northern Light Productions’ KILLER POET: THE DOUBLE LIFE OF NORMAN PORTER. In addition, two of our projects were selected for the Toronto Documentary Forum at HotDocs – Camilla Calamandrei’s THE TIGER NEXT DOOR and Danny Alpert’s THE CALLING. April was going to be an action-packed month – but with my knee in poor shape I knew that a week at MIP would be more than I could manage. Thankfully, Dom was prepared to go on my behalf and follow-up all the Sundance and other activity. Meanwhile, Elena Mannes had begun principal photography on THE MUSIC INSTINCT: SCIENCE AND SONG. A UK shoot included Jarvis Cocker and Richard Hawley, Elena had already filmed with internationally best-selling author/neurologist Oliver Sacks (Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain) and physicist Brian Greene (The Elegant Universe). Filming will begin shortly with Bobby McFerrin, a central figure in THE MUSIC INSTINCT, guiding viewers through on-screen research as well as performance.
At the end of April we were at HotDocs in force - production representatives from all four projects were in attendance. I was honored to serve as a Moderator again at the TDF. It made for a busy time but it was incredibly exciting – BLAST! and KILLER POET had great screenings and Q&As and both THE TIGER NEXT DOOR and THE CALLING were wonderfully pitched and extremely well-received. Since HotDocs BLAST! appeared at the Telluride Mountain Film Festival and has been selected for Sheffield DocFest! Killer Poet won Best Documentary at the Boston International Film Festival and has been invited to the Woods Hole and Rhode Island Film Festivals.
Throughout this time Kimberly Reed has been making huge strides on her film PRODIGAL SONS, which is now nearing picture lock! Look for announcement of a major premiere, coming soon! Northern Light Productions’ JOHNNY CASH AT FOLSOM PRISON is also in post and we are delighted to welcome American Public Television and RAVE-HD (part of VOOM HD Networks) to our group of partners on the project – co-producer C-Films of Zurich, DR/Denmark, SBS/Australia, NPS/Netherlands, ZDF-Arte, SF/Switzerland and YLE/Finland, SVT/Sweden. Several other pre-sales are in negotiation and further announcements will be made soon. Director Bestor Cram has assembled never-before-seen archive and is utilizing amazing photo extrapolation techniques to make this film a landmark. I had my knee surgery in May and it went better than I could’ve imagined. I’m grateful to be the new owner of a now-deceased person’s patella tendon, which replaces my ACL. I’m taking very good care of it – dutifully carrying out the exercises as instructed and gaining more strength and range of motion each day. OTHER NEWS!!!I am proud to be representing Oscar nominees Jeanne Jordan and Steve Ascher’s new film, RAISING RENEE. The third in their trilogy of feature documentaries on American families, the film examines family dynamics through the eyes of painter Beverly McIver and her developmentally disabled sister, Renee.
After an excellent pitch at the Toronto Doc Forum, GOOLD’S GOLD (a co-production with Sundance Channel) is attracting interest internationally. As global warming melts Alaskan glaciers, maverick geophysicist Jonathan Goold sees an opportunity to strike it rich. The film follows Goold and his team as they mine for gold on newly exposed land where no prospector has ever set foot. Principle photography begins this month in Alaska.
Also in production, from Northern Light Productions – the history of the world-renowned addiction recovery program, Alcoholics Anonymous, MY NAME IS BILL W…AND I’M AN ALCOHOLIC has been attracting a lot of interest including a grant from the Hazelden Foundation. An updated proposal is available and a trailer will be ready soon. PRINCE AMONG SLAVES – Unity Productions’ true story of an African prince sold into slavery in the American South, his remarkable survival and eventual return to his kingdom – was broadcast PBS in February. The film enjoyed a tremendous level of press coverage and also received Best Documentary Award at the 2007 American Black Film Festival, the Cine Golden Eagle and the Grand Goldie Award. Unity was also awarded the Gold Documentary Award for CITIES OF LIGHT: THE RISE AND FALL OF ISLAMIC SPAIN and the Silver Documentary Award for ON A WING AND A PRAYER from the WorldMedia Festival in Hamburg, Germany. THE PRICE OF SUGAR won Amnesty International’s Best Human Rights Film award at the Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival…Last month, THE POWDER AND THE GLORY had its Australian premiere on the ABC and will be appearing at the Globians Documentary Film Festival in Potsdam, Germany in August. Congratulations to all our clients on their success! Their creativity and hard work has resulted in exceptional films that are touching many lives around the world. Check back here for production and licensing updates; for information about individual films and screenings, check their websites. I look forward to seeing many of you at Sunny Side of the Doc later this month. After that, it is time to enjoy a beautiful New England summer! Coming this fall will be some or all of the following events: Independent Film Week (formerly known as the IFP Screenings), MIPCOM, Sheffield, IDFA, Discovery Campus Pitching Sessions/Dok Leipzig, World Congress of Science and Factual Producers. One place or another, I hope to see you soon! Peace Louise Rosen
My guys Dighton and Nuri being silly at a recent Portland Sea Dogs game. Unfortunately, that day the Dogs lost.
In November, Bodie and Andy became the proud “grandparents” of six English Bull Terrier puppies from their dog Gracie. Despite no previous canine obstetrical training, Bodie delivered four of them in a speeding car on the way to the vet!
Two of the puppies, Joe and Darwin at five months old.
Father’s Day June 2008
In Loving Memory ofWalter George Rosen
1930 – 2006
Walter G. Rosen had a dynamic career in science and academia that spanned 50 years. Born and raised in New York City, he was a lifelong progressive activist, involved in local and national political campaigns, prison reform, education and many forms of community service. As an environmentalist he spearheaded the first National Forum on BioDiversity and was credited by E.O. Wilson for having coined the term. He traveled extensively, including taking his young family to Europe in 1963 for a sabbatical year that proved to be the start of my Europhilia. His last overseas trip was to Cuba, on an educational mission with the “Brunswick-Trinidad Sister City Association.” He was delighted the Rosen family name would be carried on by my wonderful son from Kazakhstan. We are grateful to be living in the small town that was his home for the last 7 years of his life and to feel his presence every day.v |
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