Docurama Films to Release Three Sundance Acquisitions in 2009
Press Release
Docurama Films, the only distributor exclusively dedicated to documentaries for the home entertainment marketplace, announced the release of three acclaimed feature-length documentaries acquired at the Sundance Film Festival, including Crips and Bloods: Made In America, currently on the shortlist for the Best Documentary Academy Award.
From its inception, Sundance has celebrated documentary films and endeavored to expose them to a larger audience. Sharing that same mission, Docurama commemorates its tenth anniversary of bringing cutting-edge documentaries to DVD this year. On the eve of the annual gathering in Park City, the distributor wishes to recognize three remarkable films it has acquired at Sundance in previous years, releasing in 2009.
“As a distributor, we come to Sundance with our sights set on great documentaries we can bring to market,� said April Benavides of Docurama Films. “We’re very proud of these films, and on the hunt for more.�
CRIPS AND BLOODS: MADE IN AMERICA
From acclaimed director Stacy Peralta (Dogtown and Z Boys, Riding Giants) comes this powerful examination of South Los Angeles and the gangs that inhabit it. Narrated by Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker and produced by NBA superstar Baron Davis’s Verso Entertainment in association with Balance Vector Productions, Crips and Bloods: Made In America blends gripping archival footage and photos with in-depth interviews of current and former gang members, educators, historians, family members and experts. Peralta brings his trademark dynamic visual style and storytelling ability to this often-ignored chapter of America’s history. Hard-hitting, yet ultimately hopeful, Crips and Bloods: Made In America not only documents the emergence of the Bloods and the Crips and their growth beyond the borders of South Central, but also offers insight as to how this ongoing tragedy might be resolved.
Seven years after taking Sundance by storm with Dogtown and Z-Boys (Winner, Audience Award and Directing Award; Nominee, Grand Jury Prize), Peralta returned to the festival in 2008 with this searing exploration of the ongoing cycle of violence perpetuated in South Los Angeles. Following a limited theatrical run at the beginning of this year and a television premiere on PBS’s acclaimed series Independent Lens on May 12, 2009, Crips and Bloods is set for release from Docurama on May 26, 2009.
TRIAGE: DR. JAMES ORBINSKI’S HUMANITARIAN DILEMMA
A co-production of the National Film Board of Canada and White Pine Pictures, and directed by Patrick Reed, Triage follows Dr. James Orbinski, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of Doctors Without Borders, as he returns to Africa to ponder the meaning of his life’s work and the value of helping others. Triage was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema – Documentary category at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, and is scheduled for release on DVD on January 20, 2009.
WONDERS ARE MANY: THE MAKING OF Doctor Atomic
In this Actual Films production directed by award-winning filmmaker Jon Else (Sing Faster! The Stagehands’ Ring Cycle), art and science collide as the making of John Adams’s opera Doctor Atomic is interwoven with the actual historical events that underpin it: Oppenheimer’s testing of the first atomic bomb. Acquired at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, Wonders Are Many enjoyed a limited theatrical run in 2008 as well as a television premiere on PBS’s Independent Lens on December 16, 2008. Following the successful run of the Doctor Atomic opera at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House in the fall of 2008, Docurama will release the film on DVD February 24, 2009.
About Docurama Films
Docurama Films is dedicated to making critically acclaimed and cutting-edge documentaries available digitally and on DVD. The collection unites both classic and contemporary docs from award-winning filmmakers whose work continues to astound and enlighten. In 1999, parent company New Video launched Docurama Films, a line that has released over 200 award-winning and highly acclaimed titles including the Academy Award-winning films Murder on a Sunday Morning, Marjoe and Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision. In addition, Docurama Films specializes in definitive films like D.A. Pennebaker’s seminal work Bob Dylan: Dont Look Back and The Brandon Teena Story (the true story behind the Oscar-winning movie Boys Don’t Cry), as well as films of enormous sociocultural relevance including Hacking Democracy and the Academy Award nominee Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience. Docurama Films has also released the critically acclaimed The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill and Andy Goldsworthy’s Rivers and Tides. In 2007, Docurama Films had its exciting first theatrical release with Air Guitar Nation. In 2008, release highlights included Gypsy Caravan with Johnny Depp and Body of War by filmmaker Phil Donahue with original songs by Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, and on January 6, 2009, Docurama Films released the hauntingly profound Inheritance by Oscar-winning filmmaker James Moll.
