Press release
AWARD-WINNING DOC
TO BE HEARD
OPENS OCT. 12, 2011
AT IFC CENTER IN NEW YORK
September 21, 2011 (NEW YORK, NY)-To Be Heard, an award-winning documentary about three teens from University Heights High School in The Bronx whose struggle to change their lives begins in an unusual writing class, will open on Wednesday, October 12, 2011 in New York at the IFC Center, 323 Ave. of the Americas in Greenwich Village.
A verité film intimately shot over four years, To Be Heard follows Karina, Pearl and Anthony, young friends living in the South Bronx, the poorest urban county in the United States. Their lives are precariously balanced on the edge.
Every day, they confront directly the effects of poverty, broken families and an indifferent, often hostile school system. But, inspired by three teachers in a radical poetry workshop called Power Writing, the youths set out to write their own life stories, imagining a future where fathers aren't in jail, mothers aren't abusive, and college is the place where you wake
up every morning instead of just dreaming about it each night.
The three friends, the "tripod," as they call it, are bound by proximity, circumstance and poetry. Pearl is the support and soul of the three; Karina is the passion and heart; and Anthony is the energy and physicality. In a community where friendships are kept tenuous for many reasons, these three build a bond based on language, respect and the need to survive.
What will happen to these kids? Will they find a way to articulate their dreams? Will that bring about meaningful change?
This film is not only about the lives of three teens and their struggle to make it to adulthood. It also explores the poet in all young people, the struggling artist in all of us, seeking to emerge.
The unfolding personal dramas of Karina, Anthony, Pearl in To Be Heard point to the role of literacy in schools and society at large. "Low literacy is one of the most underreported, serious problems we face," said Power Writing Teacher and To Be Heard co-director Roland Legiardi-Laura. Citing a 2003 NAAL study, he added, "only one out of eight U.S. adults can read and understand our Constitution, and 2/3 of all prisoners in the United States are functionally illiterate. What that suggests to me is that literacy--more than race, class, gender and geography--is the greatest common denominator among successsful adults."
To Be Heard's dedicated four-person directing team includes Power Writing co-founder, teacher, poet and filmmaker Roland Legiardi-Laura; Bronx native, filmmaker and son of University Heights High School's guidance counselor, Edwin Martinez; Academy Award™-winning filmmaker Deborah Shaffer (The Wobblies; Witness to War); and Power Writing co-founder and children's arts programs activist Amy Sultan. Jim Angelo and Jill Angelo of Dialogue Pictures are the Executive Producers of To Be Heard.
To Be Heard has been recognized with awards from eight film festivals, including Winner, Special Jury Prize and Audience Award, Seattle International Film Festival; and Winner, Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award, DOC NYC Film Festival.
On the Web:www.tobeheard.org.
Running time: 87 minutes
Rating: Unrated
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AWARD-WINNING DOC
TO BE HEARD
OPENS OCT. 12, 2011
AT IFC CENTER IN NEW YORK
September 21, 2011 (NEW YORK, NY)-To Be Heard, an award-winning documentary about three teens from University Heights High School in The Bronx whose struggle to change their lives begins in an unusual writing class, will open on Wednesday, October 12, 2011 in New York at the IFC Center, 323 Ave. of the Americas in Greenwich Village.
A verité film intimately shot over four years, To Be Heard follows Karina, Pearl and Anthony, young friends living in the South Bronx, the poorest urban county in the United States. Their lives are precariously balanced on the edge.
Every day, they confront directly the effects of poverty, broken families and an indifferent, often hostile school system. But, inspired by three teachers in a radical poetry workshop called Power Writing, the youths set out to write their own life stories, imagining a future where fathers aren't in jail, mothers aren't abusive, and college is the place where you wake
up every morning instead of just dreaming about it each night.
The three friends, the "tripod," as they call it, are bound by proximity, circumstance and poetry. Pearl is the support and soul of the three; Karina is the passion and heart; and Anthony is the energy and physicality. In a community where friendships are kept tenuous for many reasons, these three build a bond based on language, respect and the need to survive.
What will happen to these kids? Will they find a way to articulate their dreams? Will that bring about meaningful change?
This film is not only about the lives of three teens and their struggle to make it to adulthood. It also explores the poet in all young people, the struggling artist in all of us, seeking to emerge.
The unfolding personal dramas of Karina, Anthony, Pearl in To Be Heard point to the role of literacy in schools and society at large. "Low literacy is one of the most underreported, serious problems we face," said Power Writing Teacher and To Be Heard co-director Roland Legiardi-Laura. Citing a 2003 NAAL study, he added, "only one out of eight U.S. adults can read and understand our Constitution, and 2/3 of all prisoners in the United States are functionally illiterate. What that suggests to me is that literacy--more than race, class, gender and geography--is the greatest common denominator among successsful adults."
To Be Heard's dedicated four-person directing team includes Power Writing co-founder, teacher, poet and filmmaker Roland Legiardi-Laura; Bronx native, filmmaker and son of University Heights High School's guidance counselor, Edwin Martinez; Academy Award™-winning filmmaker Deborah Shaffer (The Wobblies; Witness to War); and Power Writing co-founder and children's arts programs activist Amy Sultan. Jim Angelo and Jill Angelo of Dialogue Pictures are the Executive Producers of To Be Heard.
To Be Heard has been recognized with awards from eight film festivals, including Winner, Special Jury Prize and Audience Award, Seattle International Film Festival; and Winner, Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award, DOC NYC Film Festival.
On the Web:www.tobeheard.org.
Running time: 87 minutes
Rating: Unrated
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Press release
Bobby Fischer Against the World
Directed by Liz Garbus
Considered by many to be the world’s greatest chess player, Bobby Fischer personified the link between genius and madness. His trajectory propelled him from child prodigy to world chess champion at age 29 and then into a nosedive of delusions and paranoia.
Fischer was a recluse for decades before resurfacing for a bizarre final chapter as a fugitive. As a loner with no familial support, Fischer had to defend his title while representing his country against the mighty Russians during the cold war. The center of media attention, Fischer was never equipped for a life in the spotlight.
From veteran filmmaker Liz Garbus, and the final project of late editor Karen Schmeer, Bobby Fischer Against the World exposes the disturbingly high price Fischer paid to achieve his legendary success and the resulting toll it took on his psyche.
Rare archival footage and insightful interviews with those closest to him expand this captivating story of a mastermind’s tumultuous rise—and fall
Crew
director: Liz Garbus
editors: Karen Schmeer, Michael Levine
producers: Liz Garbus, Stanley Buchthal, Rory Kennedy, Matthew Justus
composer: Philip Sheppard
cinematographer Bob Chappell
(2010) 2011 release: Plays In LA and NYC May 13-19 for Awards qualifying runs - HBOdocs will run in 2011 (dates TBA)
Run time: 93 min. | U.S.A. | Language: English and Russian with English subtitles | color
Docu-maker: Liz Garbus, Moxie Firecracker Films
++++++++++++++++++++++++++ADDENDUM (On Demand release)
BOBBY FISCHER AGAINST THE WORLD - HBO On Demand
06/17/11 - On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies and shows on demand from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s review: BOBBY FISCHER AGAINST THE WORLD__ (HBO).
_BOBBY FISCHER AGAINST THE WORLD - On Demand_By Jean Tait_
Bobby Fischer’s 1972 World Championship match against Soviet chess star Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, Iceland was one of the most exciting and followed sporting events in history. His life and career inspired millions of chess players, a feature film (SEARCHING FOR BOBBY FISCHER) and a West End/Broadway musical (CHESS).
The more attention he got, the stranger he got, which only fueled the legend.
Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Liz Garbus brings Bobby Fischer’s legend to life in BOBBY FISCHER AGAINST THE WORLD_. From his early years as a young prodigy to his paranoiac, ranting old age, Garbus pulls from interviews and chess writers to develop a portrait of a brilliant, but troubled man.
Obsessed from the age of 6, Bobby studied chess endlessly while his mother neglected him and his paternity was in doubt. After becoming the youngest US champion ever, Bobby leapt to fame for his style and erratic behavior, culminating in the 1972 World Championship which almost didn’t happen when Fischer seemed unable (or unwilling) to attend.
Click LINK below to learn if BOBBY FISCHER AGAINST THE WORLD
http://ondemandweekly.com/?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hbo.com%2Fdocumentaries%2Fbobby-fischer-against-the-world%2Findex.html
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Bobby Fischer Against the World
Directed by Liz Garbus
Considered by many to be the world’s greatest chess player, Bobby Fischer personified the link between genius and madness. His trajectory propelled him from child prodigy to world chess champion at age 29 and then into a nosedive of delusions and paranoia.
Fischer was a recluse for decades before resurfacing for a bizarre final chapter as a fugitive. As a loner with no familial support, Fischer had to defend his title while representing his country against the mighty Russians during the cold war. The center of media attention, Fischer was never equipped for a life in the spotlight.
From veteran filmmaker Liz Garbus, and the final project of late editor Karen Schmeer, Bobby Fischer Against the World exposes the disturbingly high price Fischer paid to achieve his legendary success and the resulting toll it took on his psyche.
Rare archival footage and insightful interviews with those closest to him expand this captivating story of a mastermind’s tumultuous rise—and fall
Crew
director: Liz Garbus
editors: Karen Schmeer, Michael Levine
producers: Liz Garbus, Stanley Buchthal, Rory Kennedy, Matthew Justus
composer: Philip Sheppard
cinematographer Bob Chappell
(2010) 2011 release: Plays In LA and NYC May 13-19 for Awards qualifying runs - HBOdocs will run in 2011 (dates TBA)
Run time: 93 min. | U.S.A. | Language: English and Russian with English subtitles | color
Docu-maker: Liz Garbus, Moxie Firecracker Films
++++++++++++++++++++++++++ADDENDUM (On Demand release)
BOBBY FISCHER AGAINST THE WORLD - HBO On Demand
06/17/11 - On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies and shows on demand from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s review: BOBBY FISCHER AGAINST THE WORLD__ (HBO).
_BOBBY FISCHER AGAINST THE WORLD - On Demand_By Jean Tait_
Bobby Fischer’s 1972 World Championship match against Soviet chess star Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, Iceland was one of the most exciting and followed sporting events in history. His life and career inspired millions of chess players, a feature film (SEARCHING FOR BOBBY FISCHER) and a West End/Broadway musical (CHESS).
The more attention he got, the stranger he got, which only fueled the legend.
Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Liz Garbus brings Bobby Fischer’s legend to life in BOBBY FISCHER AGAINST THE WORLD_. From his early years as a young prodigy to his paranoiac, ranting old age, Garbus pulls from interviews and chess writers to develop a portrait of a brilliant, but troubled man.
Obsessed from the age of 6, Bobby studied chess endlessly while his mother neglected him and his paternity was in doubt. After becoming the youngest US champion ever, Bobby leapt to fame for his style and erratic behavior, culminating in the 1972 World Championship which almost didn’t happen when Fischer seemed unable (or unwilling) to attend.
Click LINK below to learn if BOBBY FISCHER AGAINST THE WORLD
http://ondemandweekly.com/?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hbo.com%2Fdocumentaries%2Fbobby-fischer-against-the-world%2Findex.html
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Press release
LOUDER THAN A BOMB
SLAMS into theaters On May 18, 2011
Featuring: Nova Venerable, Adam Gottlieb, and Lamar Jorden
The celebrated documentary LOUDER THAN A BOMB will debut theatrically nationwide via the distribution company Balcony Releasing. Winner of more than a dozen film festival prizes, including seven audience awards, LOUDER THAN A BOMB is nothing short of a celebration of American youth at their creative best.
Every year, more than six hundred teenagers from over sixty Chicago area schools gather for the world's largest youth poetry slam, a competition known as "Louder Than a Bomb". Founded in 2001, "Louder Than a Bomb" is the only event of its kind in the country-a youth poetry slam built from the beginning around teams.
Rather than emphasize individual poets and performances, the structure of "Louder Than a Bomb" demands that kids work collaboratively with their peers, presenting, critiquing, and rewriting their pieces. To succeed, teams have to create an environment of mutual trust and support.
For many kids, being a part of such an environment-in an academic context-is life-changing.
Directed and produced by Greg Jacobs and John Siskel (nephew of the late film critic Gene Siskel), LOUDER THAN A BOMB chronicles the stereotype-confounding stories of four teams as they prepare for and compete in the 2008 event. By turns hopeful and heartbreaking, the film captures the tempestuous lives of these unforgettable kids, exploring the ways writing shapes their world, and vice versa.
This is not "high school poetry" as we often think of it. This is language as a joyful release, irrepressibly talented teenagers obsessed with making words dance. How and why they do it-and the community they create along the way-is the story at the heart of this inspiring film.
LOUDER THAN A BOMB premiered at the 2010 Cleveland International Film Festival, where it won both the Roxanne T. Mueller Audience Choice Award for best film and the Greg Gund Memorial Standing Up Film Competition. Since then, the film has won audience awards at the Palm Springs, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Salem, and Woods Hole film festivals, as well as jury prizes at the Austin, Chicago, Woods Hole, and Virginia film fests, and been screened for more than 5000 high school students.
LOUDER THAN A BOMB has been selected for the 2011 American Documentary Showcase, which was created by the U.S. State Department to "cultivate greater understanding among people around the world." Following its US theatrical release starting on May 18, 2011, the film will have its television premiere later this year as part of the Oprah Winfrey Network's "OWN Documentary Club."
Producers website-http://www.siskeljacobs.com/louder-than-a-bomb.php
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
LOUDER THAN A BOMB
SLAMS into theaters On May 18, 2011
Featuring: Nova Venerable, Adam Gottlieb, and Lamar Jorden
The celebrated documentary LOUDER THAN A BOMB will debut theatrically nationwide via the distribution company Balcony Releasing. Winner of more than a dozen film festival prizes, including seven audience awards, LOUDER THAN A BOMB is nothing short of a celebration of American youth at their creative best.
Every year, more than six hundred teenagers from over sixty Chicago area schools gather for the world's largest youth poetry slam, a competition known as "Louder Than a Bomb". Founded in 2001, "Louder Than a Bomb" is the only event of its kind in the country-a youth poetry slam built from the beginning around teams.
Rather than emphasize individual poets and performances, the structure of "Louder Than a Bomb" demands that kids work collaboratively with their peers, presenting, critiquing, and rewriting their pieces. To succeed, teams have to create an environment of mutual trust and support.
For many kids, being a part of such an environment-in an academic context-is life-changing.
Directed and produced by Greg Jacobs and John Siskel (nephew of the late film critic Gene Siskel), LOUDER THAN A BOMB chronicles the stereotype-confounding stories of four teams as they prepare for and compete in the 2008 event. By turns hopeful and heartbreaking, the film captures the tempestuous lives of these unforgettable kids, exploring the ways writing shapes their world, and vice versa.
This is not "high school poetry" as we often think of it. This is language as a joyful release, irrepressibly talented teenagers obsessed with making words dance. How and why they do it-and the community they create along the way-is the story at the heart of this inspiring film.
LOUDER THAN A BOMB premiered at the 2010 Cleveland International Film Festival, where it won both the Roxanne T. Mueller Audience Choice Award for best film and the Greg Gund Memorial Standing Up Film Competition. Since then, the film has won audience awards at the Palm Springs, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Salem, and Woods Hole film festivals, as well as jury prizes at the Austin, Chicago, Woods Hole, and Virginia film fests, and been screened for more than 5000 high school students.
LOUDER THAN A BOMB has been selected for the 2011 American Documentary Showcase, which was created by the U.S. State Department to "cultivate greater understanding among people around the world." Following its US theatrical release starting on May 18, 2011, the film will have its television premiere later this year as part of the Oprah Winfrey Network's "OWN Documentary Club."
Producers website-http://www.siskeljacobs.com/louder-than-a-bomb.php
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