TheKnocturnal was on the scene at the premiere of Colin Hanks’ documentary “All Things Must Pass” at Greenwich International Film Festival on Friday evening.
Every once in a while, a biographical documentary is published that broadcasts the life of an artist in a way that even those completely unfamiliar with his or her work can feel as if they understand this artist on a deeply emotional level. What Happened, Miss Simone? does just that.
On Tuesday, June 17, 2014 at the Dolby 88 Theater in New York City, theknockturnal.com attended a very special screening. The stories of notorious gangsters have long been a fascination to the general public. We love the entertainment their lives bring to the TV screen, while at the same time hate them for the heinous crimes that they commit.
Magnolia Pictures, CNN Films, RadicalMedia’s
American Documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger keenly details the 25 year tenure of legendary Boston crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger, the Irish Godfather and his refutable relationship with the FBI in his latest film “Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger,” who up until his capture in 2011, placed second behind Osama Bin Laden on America’s Most Wanted List. The question of innocence was never a question, but whether or not he violated the gangster code by becoming a rat was to be determined. Berlinger and Bulger Defense Attorney Hank Brennan joined in on the screening of the film.
The film chronicles the family members of some of Bulger’s victims as they prepare after 30 years to finally face him at his June 2013 trial, while also examining the probable corrupt dealings of specific Federal Agents whom in essence enabled Bulger to reign terror in Boston during the 1970s-mid 1980s. The known leader of the Winter Hill Gang, Bulger was a vicious thug never afraid to get his hands dirty, a man who carried out his own hits at times, but never received so much as a parking ticket. Attempts to shut down his operation would go unsuccessful due to him being somehow tipped off on various occasions, implicating certain law enforcement agents, therefore opening conversation in regards to an FBI cover-up, and furthermore creating the storyline behind this telling film.
An Oscar-nominated Berlinger stated, “I don’t profess to know if he was an informant, but I think the conventional wisdom that he was an informant and that all of his bad activities were the fault of one bad rogue agent and his supervisor is very difficult to believe. If he was an informant, there was a lot of irregularities.”
In a Tuscon, Arizona prison where he will spend the rest of his days for the 31 out of 32 counts, and 11 out of 19 murders of which he was convicted of, Bulger stands firm in his statements saying he was never paid for any services for being an Informant, he was in fact the one paying off folks. Yes, he is a murderer, a drug dealer, a bank robber, a loanshark, all these bad things, but never can you call him a Rat. With the key members of his team already detained and sentenced from in the late 90s, it would take 16 years after that to finally catch up with him.
These 107 minutes of real life events sheds bright lights on the crooked world of our legal system blatantly caught in the act of aiding the bad guys; something that has been known to occur for years. In theaters June 27, it’s a must see if you ask me.
Yesterday on May 28, 2014, TheKnockturnal.com was on the scene at the New York premiere of HBO’s latest documentary “The Case Against 8” at the Time Warner Center Screening Room. Five years in the making, the film takes a riveting inside look at the groundbreaking Supreme Court case that overturned Proposition 8, California’s ban on same-sex marriage.
With exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of both the powerhouse legal team of David Boies and Ted Olson and the four plaintiffs in the suit, the documentary is a powerful emotional account of the journey that took the fight for marriage equality all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Read our exclusive red carpet interviews below:
Director Ryan White
Q: What was the intension going in to keep this story interesting on camera?
A: We filmed 600 hours of footage over the course of five years, as legal nerds and people who became really entrenched in the lives of the plaintiffs, Kris and Sandy and Paul and Jeff, we thought most of those minutes were really interesting in the end. It was a really big challenge in the editing room to distill a massive five year legal drama into an hour and fifty minutes that makes sense to a non-legal audience at the same time keeping the legal audience happy as well. Going in and out of the personal lives of the plaintiffs while keeping the legal story compelling was the goal.
Q: Now that Prop 8 is out, what are your hopes for the film?
A: The end of the film is very bitter-sweet, we followed Kris and Sandy, Jeff and Paul for five years, and their families as well. So it’s incredibly celebratory to see them reach their fairytale ending after 5 years of trials and tribulations. But the film ends bittersweet with gay marriage still being illegal in 33 states. We hope the film can be an inspiration to the people in those states to start a conversation. We want people to get to know the Plaintiffs in our film and maybe rethink their stance on the issue.
Plaintiffs Kris Perry and Sandy Krier
Q: Can you explain the feeling of being a part of this gripping time of modern history.
A: It feels really important to be a part of group of people that could accomplish something like what we did. The lawyers and the team behind them were all extraordinary and trusting. We weren’t just talking to a judge, we were talking to all of America about why marriage equality matters so that if we did lose, we could maybe open the eyes of other people in America.
Q: After five years, besides your personal gain of being able to marry the one you love, what was your bigger picture of it all?
A: We learned to be disciplined and clear about what we were really in it for which was to repeal Proposition 8. We’ve been able to bring our personal story into the bigger story about how harmful a law is to exclude a group of people based on a characteristic that cannot be changed. We wanted to be a part of that history where things would be corrected.
The film will be in select theaters Friday, June 6 and premieres Monday, June 23 on HBO.
World-renowned journalist, executive producer and narrator, Katie Couric together with Stephanie Soechtig (director) and Laurie David (executive producer) all attended the New York premiere of their new documentary “Fed Up” on May 6, 2014. They brought many influencers to the MoMA. The evening was presented by Aloha.
It’s been almost 30 years since the obesity epidemic started in this country, and if Americans continue on this path, we may just eat ourselves to death. “Fed Up” is more than just a film, but a movement with a powerful message. The film goes beyond the conversation of the effects of fast food, but weighs heavily in on the actual miscreants behind the contagion, and how the food industry has knowingly used these secret weapons to manipulate what we eat for private profit and special interests.
Ninety-two minutes of video diaries, interviews and some undisclosed legislative doctrines was enough to enlist a brilliant army, and remove every sugary, starched, and processed food item out of your pantry. Sugar is equated to a drug six times more addictive than cocaine, a poison to the liver, and a major ingredient to most American food regimens. We have been bamboozled, misled, taken for complete imbeciles. The film says that instead of strategizing on how to handle issues overseas, we ought to be planning the war against our own food industry right here in the US.
With kids as a target, this generation of Americans will face more sicknesses and die younger than our parents, while the food industry just gets richer and richer. There is a whole business behind the fattening of America, even down to the marketing of diet products, the funding of food health research programs by these corporations, and a product placement system in line to entice further bad eating behaviors.
Notables who attended last night’s screening included Jodi Applegate, Jon Cryer, Yaya Dacosta, Claire Danes, Shep Gordon, Adrien Grenier, Dorothy Hamilton, Bridget Moynahan, Arizona Muse, Norah O’Donnell, Suze Orman, Chuck Scarborough, Mary Alice Stephenson, Susan Ungaro and Naomi Wolf. Afterwards guests headed to Venus over Manhattan for a sugar free supper. The menu was inspired by Laurie David’s cookbook entitled “The Family Cooks.”
Catering was done by Mary Giuliani Catering & Events. Light bites included chicken sausage with caramelized onions on cheesy grit cakes, black bean burgers topped with guacamole with wweet potato fries, miso-glazed black cod lettuce wraps, whole grain quesadillas with crunchy cabbage, quinoa cakes with green Goddess aioli, salmon cakes with cucumber yogurt sauce, kale sesame seed salad summer rolls and for dessert guests enjoyed mini oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and mini almond cake.
In theaters this Friday May 9, “Fed Up” is an important source to uncovering the facts surrounding our food intake. Tell a friend to tell a friend until the truth is bigger than this widespread.
Bethany Hamilton (Left) & Mallory Weggemann (Right)
Yesterday on March 5, theknockturnal.com was on the scene for a New York special screening of the EPIX original documentary “The Current” part of the ReelAbilities: NY Disabilities Film Festival and co- hosted by The JCC in Manhattan at the Times Center in New York City.
The film followed seven brave souls as they were tested by the ocean waters of: Bimini (Bahamas), Cozumel (Mexico), and Kauai (Hawaii) where they heroically swam with sharks and dolphins, went scuba diving, and surfed the waves of beautiful Hawaii. While keeping true to their driving principles of looking past their obvious limitations, all of which have made them each heroines in their own right, these great men and women have managed to make the impossible possible contrary to the naysayers. “Soul Surfer” Bethany Hamilton and Paralympic Gold Medalist Mallory Weggemann were in attendance at the screening and participated in a Q&A.
Check out our exclusive interviews below:
Bethany Hamilton
As one of the featured athletes in the film, what are some of your hopes for viewers to take away?
You can overcome anything you put your mind to. Having a faith in God was vital for my progression throughout my circumstance. My fear of not getting back into the water was bigger than my fear of coming in contact with another shark. And I try to see the positive out of all things.
As inspirational as your story is, what were some of the strengths you pulled from of your other cast mates?
We (Bethany and husband Adam) were specifically inspired by the love shared between Grant and Shawna, and how they stuck it out together after his accident.
How did you and your husband first meet?
We met through mutual friends and just got to know each other gradually. We didn’t know much of each other prior to meeting. On our first date, we jumped off of a 40 foot cliff.
Mallory Weggemann
Can you tell me about your connection to the water, and how the whole idea of “healing waters” relates to you?
When I was paralyzed in Jan. of 2008, two months before my 19th birthday, I thought my days of swimming were over. Being a competitive swimmer since the age of 7, the water was second nature to me, and it has always been my safe haven, but when I was paralyzed I thought it was taken away. But in April of 2008, 4 months later, I realized that it wasn’t, I got back in the pool, and swimming was like having my home back, it taught me so much about life as far as dedication, determination, and about life’s challenges and overcoming them. I’m free, I can do anything and everything that I want. When I’m in a pool, I’m not in a wheelchair. I’m free.
What led you to get back into the water?
Getting back into the water was actually kind of serendipitous. I had just gotten out of the hospital and was at my parents’ house. My sister saw a newspaper article for the Paralympic tryouts for the Beijing games being held about 30 minutes away from my house. I never heard of the Paralympics before then and didn’t know what to expect. They wanted to take me to check it out. I really didn’t want to, but my family could be really pushy (in a good-supportive way) so I went, that was on a Saturday. I left the pool, and then on Monday, I got back in the pool for the first time and literally fell in love.
What do you hope people take away from the film?
One of the biggest things that I always talk about is that everybody has a disability. Mine is physical, it could be mental, emotional, financial, spiritual, nonetheless, we all struggle with stuff every single day. And, yes the movie is about showcasing amazing abilities within the disability population, but it’s about more than that. It’s just about life, and it’s about all of us realizing that disabilities are universal and we all have it. And if we can all understand, the appreciation, respect, and graciousness we can have towards one another I think it’s just astronomical and it forces all of us to look internally and think what’s holding me back in my life, and then addressing that and pushing past it. That’s my biggest hope. It could be the smallest of things, but in your life the biggest of things, and just finding out those things and ways to challenge yourself.
“The Current” premieres on EPIX on Wednesday, March 12 at 8pm ET.
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