‘CIVIL WAR, An Urgent Reflection on America’s Collective Memory’ Premieres on MSNBC on Sunday, October 24 at 10:00pm ET

Directer: Rachel Boynton
Executive Producers by Henry Louis Gates Jr. & Sam Pollard
Genre: Documentary
Runtime: 1 hour 40 minutes
Country: USA:

“In this time of reckoning in the country, Rachel Boynton’s journey into the heart of Civil War memory reveals just how contested, and personal, the meaning of this defining event in our history remains.” – Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

“[A] remarkable documentary… Delicately artful… There is
no shortage of provocative inquiry, or empathy, or understanding.”
– John Anderson, The Wall Street Journal

Union and Confederate veterans shaking hands at reunion to commemorate the 50th
anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg as seen in
Civil War (or, Who Do We Think We
Are) , directed by Rachel Boyton. Image courtesy of the U.S. Library of Congress.
Union and Confederate veterans shaking hands at reunion to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg as seen in Civil War (or, Who Do We Think We Are) , directed by Rachel Boyton. Image courtesy of the U.S. Library of Congress.

CIVIL WAR (OR, WHO DO WE THINK WE ARE), a timely and probing look at how Americans tell the story of their Civil War and its legacy of slavery and racism, will premiere on MSNBC on Sunday, October 24 at 10:00pm ET. Directed by three-time Emmy nominee Rachel Boynton (Big Men, Our Brand is Crisis), the film includes Henry Louis Gates Jr., Sam Pollard and Brad Pitt among its executive producers.

CIVIL WAR (OR, WHO DO WE THINK WE ARE) travels across the United States—particularly to its classrooms—to explore the different ways the Civil War has been taught and interpreted, commemorated and celebrated. Filmed from the last year of Obama’s presidency through the present, it interweaves insightful scenes and candid interviews filmed North and South, painting a uniquely crafted, multi-faceted portrait of our national narrative. With subtlety and determination, CIVIL WAR portrays a nation in denial, haunted by an embittered past and the stories it refuses to tell.

CIVIL WAR (OR, WHO DO WE THINK WE ARE) was written and directed by Rachel Boynton and produced by Rachel Boynton and Erika Dilday. It was shot by Nelson Walker and edited by Steven Golliday, Mark Juergens and Rachel Boynton. Executive producers are Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremey Kleiner, Steven Shainberg, Sam Pollard, Robert S. Kravis, and Rick Rosenthall. Music is by Nathan Larson.

An unidentified African American soldier in a Union uniform with wife and two
daughters as seen in
Civil War (or, Who Do We Think We Are)
, directed by Rachel
Boyton. Image courtesy of the U.S. Library of Cong
An unidentified African American soldier in a Union uniform with wife and two daughters as seen in Civil War (or, Who Do We Think We Are) , directed by Rachel Boyton. Image courtesy of the U.S. Library of Cong
A
confederate statue in front of the old courthouse building in Lexington, MS as seen in
Civil War (or, Who Do We Think We Are)
, directed by Rachel Boyton. Photo credit:
Nelson Walker III
A confederate statue in front of the old courthouse building in Lexington, MS as seen in Civil War (or, Who Do We Think We Are) , directed by Rachel Boyton. Photo credit: Nelson Walker III
Rachel Boyton, director of
Civil War (or, Who Do We Think We Are).
Photo credit:
Justine Cooper
Rachel Boyton, director of Civil War (or, Who Do We Think We Are). Photo credit: Justine Cooper

About the Director Rachel Boynton

This is Rachel Boynton’s third film in a series examining the systems that control how Americans live and relate to the rest of the world. She consistently probes and questions the beliefs and stories that bind America as a nation. Her first feature documentary, Our Brand is Crisis, explored democracy and democratic ideals: it followed a group of American political consultants as they traveled to South America to help Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada become President of Bolivia. It was the winner of the International Documentary Association's Best Feature Documentary Award and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. Rachel’s second film, Big Men, explored international capitalism and its principles: it focused on Americans operating in the oil industry in West Africa. Big Men was released theatrically in the US in 2014 and aired on the PBS series POV. The film was nominated for three News and Documentary Emmy Awards including Best Documentary. Civil War is Rachel's first film to be shot exclusively in the United States.

RIVER’S END on VOD in the US, Canada and UK on November 2, 2021.

RIVERS END key art

Director Jacob Morrison's feature documentary film RVER'S END will be released on VOD in the US, Canada and UK on November 2, 2021.

The VOD Platforms: Apple TV/iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Vudu (US, Canada, UK)

Cable Platforms: In Demand TVOD (Comcast, Spectrum, Cox), DirectTV/AT&T and more (US)

RIVER’S END explores the global water crisis, using California as a microcosm. It reveals how water politics that led to the draining of the Owens Valley by Los Angeles, made famous by the film CHINATOWN, continue to this day in ongoing efforts to take ever more water from Northern California's San Francisco Bay estuary. Except this time, the water grab is at the hands of industrial agriculture and its powerful corporate investors. RIVER’S END inspires viewers to learn where their water comes from so that we can save our rivers and the ecosystems and communities that depend upon them.

JACOB MORRISON- WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER
Jacob Morrison is a filmmaker releasing his feature directorial debut, RIVER’S END. Morrison has produced series for VICELAND and Fullscreen, wrote and starred in a multi-episode explainer series for Vice, and directed a half-hour television pilot. He is a graduate of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and a native of Southern California.

Website: https://www.riversendfilm.com/

CONNECT ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/riversendfilm/

Twitter: https://youtu.be/MhsQTkf- 1BY

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/riversendfilm

Hashtag:
#RiversEnd

GIANT PICTURES

Giant Pictures is a leading digital distributor that is committed to empowering filmmakers to own their distribution. With offices in New York and Los Angeles, we work directly with rights owners to distribute movies and TV shows to VOD and streaming platforms in North America and worldwide. Our content partners range from first-time filmmakers to award-winning independent producers, as well as notable studios Alamo Drafthouse Films, Abramorama Selects, Participant, Tribeca Enterprises, Utopia Distribution, and XYZ Films. A division of Giant Interactive, the award-winning digital media and technology services company, we distribute across 45+ platforms, including AppleTV, Netflix, Prime Video, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Tubi, and Peacock.

Learn more at: www.giant.pictures

VIEW TRAILER BELOW!

Gravitas Ventures has acquired North America digital rights to filmmaker Panayioti Yannitsos’ Florian’s Knights

Florians Knights Poster

Gravitas Ventures, a Red Arrow Studios company, has acquired North America digital rights to filmmaker Panayioti Yannitsos (“Freedom Besieged”) powerful feature documentary “Florian’s Knights.” Crowbar Pictures, Inc has released the film in theaters across North America on beginning on September 10th,, 2021 timed to the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Markets to be included in the theatrical rollout –New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, Chicago, Denver, Phoenix, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, and Saskatoon. Gravitas Ventures will release across all TVOD/Digital platforms & Blu-Ray/DVD throughout the North American continent beginning on November 23rd, 2021. A Canadian production, Yannitsos’ new documentary chronicles firefighters in both the US and Canada who form a controversial motorcycle club to cope with the crippling effects of PTSD. As the Florian’s Knights full patch motorcycle club, the freedom felt on two wheels inspires North American firefighters to speak truth against the stigma of first responder mental health and outlaw biker culture. From the impact of 9/11, to the front lines of the opioid crisis in Vancouver and Toronto, and across the bridge to the arson epidemic in Detroit, Florian’s Knights travel to the darkest pits of the human experience. The real traumas of firefighting are exposed in ways never-before-seen. Private screener links are available upon request for review, what to watch in theatres and what's streaming columns (timed to our upcoming November TVOD) and interview consideration!

In April of 2018, director Panayioti Yannitsos met with Crowbar Pictures founder Shawn Galvao to discuss the Florian’s Knights; a new firefighter motorcycle club making waves across North America. Driving home from that meeting, Pan found himself bumper-to-bumper with retired Vancouver Battalion Chief Rod MacDonald, who was riding his motorcycle, a Florian’s Knights patch on his back. Staring at the patch for several minutes in traffic, the serendipitous event convinced Yannitsos to sign on to direct the film. Over the course of three years, Yannitsos and a core team of only four fellow filmmakers slept in fire halls across North America, often in 24-hour shifts, responding to emergencies in real time.

“Florian’s Knights” follows the lives of a number of first responders and experts. All of the following documentary subjects will be available for press interviews – Firefighter Matthew Sabini (New York Fire Department / Florian’s Knights MC), Retired Captain Erik Bjarnason (North Vancouver Fire Dept / Florian's Knights MC), Retired Battalion Chief Rod MacDonald (Vancouver Fire Dept / Florian’s Knights MC), Acting Captain Bill Shokar (New Westminster Fire Department / Florian’s Knights MC), Captain Jack Cooper (Toronto Fire Service / Florian’s Knights MC), Battalion Chief Michael V. Nevin (Detroit Fire Department), Senior Lieutenant Darnell McLaurin (Detroit Fire Department / Axemen MC), and Dr. Don Vaughn, PHD (Neuroscientist, UCLA).

Dr. Don Vaughn, Michael Maggiora, and their team measured the brain activity, heart rate, and hormone levels of over 50 experienced motorcycle riders in “Project Free.” The study was peer reviewed and accepted by Brain Research. The study concluded that riding a motorcycle can decrease hormonal biomarkers of stress. The work was funded by a grant from Harley-Davidson.

“For over a century, firefighters in North America have grappled with the harsh reality of post-traumatic stress. In pursuit of making this movie, we were faced with a code of silence engrained in fire departments for generations. I knew that this moratorium on mental health was costing men and women their lives, whether through substance abuse, depression, or suicide and I felt a responsibility to shine a light on this very human struggle and bring it to audiences.” – filmmaker Panayioti Yannitsos.

“Florian’s Knights” is directed, edited & produced by Panayioti Yannitsos, executive produced by Shawn Galvao, with cinematography by Jon Thomas (“The Angel Tree”) & Blake Davey (“Someone Like Me,” “Rupture”), and sound design by Jamie Spittal (“Freedom Besieged”).

Where to follow the film and its journey:
Website: www.floriansknightsmovie.com
Facebook: @FloriansKnightsMovie
Instagram: @FloriansKnightsMovi
Twitter: @FloriansKnights

Hulu Announces Original Documentary From ABC News and Impact Partners

JACINTA
A Gripping Chronicle of Love, Family and Addiction Premieres October 8

Runtime: 1 hour 45 minutes
A Hulu Original Documentary

Jacinta and Rosemary at Maine Correctional Center, 2016. 
Photo © Jessica Earnshaw.
Jacinta and Rosemary at Maine Correctional Center, 2016. Photo © Jessica Earnshaw.

Hulu has added JACINTA, a powerful and intimate documentary from ABC News and Impact Partners, to its Originals slate. The film follows a young woman who struggles to find stability amid years of addiction and reconnect with the daughter she left behind, JACINTA earned its director, Jessica Earnshaw, the award for Best New Documentary Director at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival. It has continued an impressive festival run at DOC NYC, AFI Fest, IDFA, the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival (Best Documentary), and more. The Hulu Original Documentary will premiere on Hulu and in select theaters on October 8 and will be eligible for awards consideration this season.

Jessica Earnshaw, 2020
Jessica Earnshaw, 2020

Shot over three years, the film begins at the Maine Correctional Center where Jacinta, 26, and her mother Rosemary, 46, are incarcerated together, both recovering from drug addiction. As a child, Jacinta became entangled in her mother's world of drugs and crime and has followed her in and out of the system since she was a teenager. This time, as Jacinta is released from prison, she hopes to maintain her sobriety and reconnect with her 10-year-old daughter, Caylynn, who lives with her paternal grandparents. Despite her desire to rebuild her life for her daughter, Jacinta continually struggles against the forces that first led to her addiction. With unparalleled access and a gripping vérité approach, director Jessica Earnshaw paints a deeply intimate portrait of mothers and daughters and the effects of trauma over generations.

Jessica Earnshaw is a documentary photographer and filmmaker whose work focuses on criminal justice, familial relationships and women. Her photography has appeared in National Geographic, The Marshall Project, Mother Jones, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and NPR. JACINTA is Jessica’s first feature film and in 2020, she won Tribeca Film Festival’s Albert Maysles New Documentary Director Award.

“A searingly honest portrait of kinship and addiction… A hard-hitting and heartbreaking documentary… In a playing field usually occupied by men, the fact that
‘Jacinta’ focuses on three generations of women whose lives have been
upended by drugs and crime makes it a rare study.”
– Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter

“[A] gripping, characterful doc debut… remarkably engrossing… As a
snapshot of relapse, recidivism and remorse in a dead-end mill town in
Maine, ‘Jacinta' is perceptive and persuasive." – Jessica Kiang, Variety

"A profound meditation on the troubling intersection between addiction and incarceration… Overflowing with humanity… Earnshaw has made a deeply emotional and poignant film on the personal, familial horrors of addiction.” – Christian Gallichio, The Playlist

BAD ATTITUDE: The Art of Spain Rodriguez California Premiere at the 2021 Mill Valley Film Festival

BadAttitude_12x18_RGB Use This

Directed by: Susan Stern
Featuring: Spain Rodriguez, R. Crumb, Art Spiegelman, Trina Robbins, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Ed Piskor, Nora Rodriguez, and Susan Stern Runtime: 1 hour 11 Minutes
Rating: | Not Yet Rated
Genre: Documentary

Moving, thought-provoking, both personal and political, Bad Attitude: The Art of Spain Rodriguez explores the controversial art and life of the legendary underground cartoonist through the lens of his wife, Emmy-nominated filmmaker Susan Stern.

Spain_Art_3

From the propaganda comics of WWII, to the underground comics breakthrough in 1960s New York and San Francisco, to the graphic novels of today, Bad Attitude is an enthralling history of comics and a rousing call to art and activism. Featuring a roster of friends and family, Bad Attitude dives deep into Spain’s life with insight from comics luminaries R. Crumb, Art Spiegelman, Trina Robbins, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, and Ed Piskor, and features animation by Spain’s daughter, the New York-based artist, Nora Rodriguez.

“Bad Attitude is a love letter to my partner in art and life, Spain Rodriguez, but it is also a love letter to all activists, especially artist-activists,” says director Susan Stern. “I hope Bad Attitude creates a space for conversation about the art and social justice we are trying to make, the ways we fail, and how we can be forgiven.”

BAD ATTITUDE: The Art of Spain Rodriguez | 2021 Mill Valley Film Festival

Premiere Screening - Thursday, October 14th @ 7:30pm - Sequoia 2, Mill Valley.

2nd Screening - Saturday, October 16th -@ 7:00pm - Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley.

Spain_Art_4

Bay Area Films at the 44th Annual Mill Valley Film Festival https://www.mvff.com/mvff44-bay-area-films/

Website: www.badattitudedoc.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/badattitudedoc
Twitter: www.twitter.com/badattitudedoc
Instagram: www.instagram.com/badattitudedoc

Director and Producer: Susan Stern
Associate Producer by Victoria B. Fender
Edit0r: Elizabeth Finlayson, Jim Klein, Bill Weber, and Fender
Cinematographer: Naiti Gámez and Vicente Franco
Original Score: B. Quincy Griffin
Music: Santana, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jesse Hill, Ben King, The Fugs, and Charles Mingus
Featuring: Spain Rodriguez, comics luminaries R. Crumb, Art Spiegelman, Trina Robbins, Aline Kominsky-Crumb and Ed Piskor
Writers: Ishmael Reed, feminist critics Susie Bright and Andi Zeisler, and Mission District artists René Yañez, Rio Yañez and Yolanda López
A Bernal Beach Films production

View Trailer Below!

OUR AMERICAN FAMILY World Premiere at Woodstock Film Festival 2021

Our American Family Poster

A World of HA Productions Film in association with Atlas Industries and The Intellectual Property Corporation Presents OUR AMERICAN FAMILY

Directors & Producers: Hallee Adelman, Sean King O’Grady
Genre: Documentary
Country: USA
Runtime: 1 hour 27 minutes

Our American Family Photo1

WOODSTOCK FILM FESTIVAL 2021 Screenings:

WORLD PREMIERE--Saturday October 2 @ 3:45pm at the Bearsville Theater (291 Tinker St. Woodstock NY, 12498)

Sunday October 3 @ 2:00pm at Orpheum Saugerties Theater
(156 Main St. Saugerties NY, 12477).

 

Our American Family Photo2

OUR AMERICAN FAMILY is a radically honest, unfiltered portrait of a close-knit Philadelphia family fighting its greatest nemesis: generational addiction. Beginning with a pivotal, “nothing to lose” moment, then captured over the course of the following year, five family members tired of life plagued by addiction on center stage, each struggle to transcend their crippling histories: a mother who learned from childhood to enable her own mother’s addiction, a daughter who doesn’t know who she is without a substance, a son who learned everything about “Heroin 101” from his sister, a younger son who feels alone but acts content to ease the family’s burden, and a stepfather who wonders if addiction is really a disease or simply a by-product of laziness. What will it take to shift this entrenched, wrenching pattern in their lives? How will they each free themselves from their interlocking fates? Will they be able to make significant changes to help their next generation? The members of OUR AMERICAN FAMILY invite us into their lives to find hope and to explore what is possible. No experts. No drug use. No melodrama.

WFF 2021 WEBSITE FOR TICKETS:
https://woodstockfilmfestival.eventive.org/films/our-american-family-60e5d6fb66fa930069afa5bd

 

Our American Family Photo3a

FILM WEBSITE:
https://ouramericanfamilyfilm.com

Instagram: @ OurAmericanFamilyFilm
Facebook: @ OurAmericanFamilyFilm
Twitter: @OurAmerFamFilm

PR CONTACT:
EMMA GRIFFITHS, EG PR
E: EMMA@EG-PR.COM

SALES CONTACT:
SUBMARINE/ BEN SCHWARTZ
SCHWARTZ@SUBMARINE.COM

FIRE MUSIC: Movie Review

Submarine DELUXE Presents In Association with Joseph Wemple, Films We Like, Mexican Summer and Nothing Is...

                         FIRE MUSIC

John Coltrane 
©Lee Tanner - The Jazz Image
John Coltrane ©Lee Tanner - The Jazz Image

Director and Writer: Tom Surgal
Featuring: Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, John Coltrane, Alber Ayler, Sun Ra, Eric Dolphy, and many more
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
Country: U.S.A.
Runtime: 1 hour 26 minutes

A Crash Course in Free Jazz 101

The Angry form of improvisational jazz comes to life in Tom Surgal's documentary 'FIRE MUSIC'.

The history of this under appreciated form of of Jazz begins with the 1956 release of Cecil Taylor's first album Jazz Advance. It was Ornette Coleman's first album Something Else!!!! and his later release
Free Jazz: A Collective that gave us the first of freely improvised music., Sun Ra's Jazz in Sihoutte, Archie Shepp's, Albert Aylar's, Bill Dison's contributions are highlighted in Surgal's musical documentary.

Sun Ra
December 1968
Photo @Baron Wolman
Sun Ra December 1968 Photo @Baron Wolman

The sounds of John Coltran's Ascension, his take on the style of free improvisation. There is Don Cherry,
who moved the needle of Free Jazz to the inclusion of international musicians that lead to Alex von Schlippenbach's
release of the first Globe Unity Album.

You hear the sounds of the Art Ensemble of Chicago with Wadada Leo Smith and Anthony Braxton. Peter Brotzmann and his
groundbreaking recording Machine Gun that showcases Evan Parker and Han Bennink.

Tom Surga. Photo:  Lin Culbertson
Tom Surga. Photo: Lin Culbertson

Understanding is an important quality to have and Surgal's documentary gives you just that, an understanding of Free Jazz
that assist in the appreciation of this radical form of music known as Free Jazz.

Run time: 1 hour 26 minutes
Featuring: Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, John Coltrane, Alber Ayler, Sun Ra, Eric Dolphy, and many more
Director and Writer: Tom Surgal
Producers: Dan Braun, Joseph Wemple
Executive Producer: Ron Mann
Cinematography: Dan Ehrenbard
Editor and Co-Writer: John Northrup
Composer: Lin Culbertson

FINDING KENDRICK JOHNSON Now Available on Digital + Video on Demand

Screening Nationwide in Theaters this Fall
Premiering on Starz - December 2021

FindingKendrickJohnsonHiRezPoster

A documentary by Jason Pollock
Narrated by Jenifer Lewis
Produced by Malcolm D. Lee
Runtime: 1 hour 42 minutes

On January 11th, 2013, Kendrick Johnson was found dead in his high school gymnasium rolled up in a gym mat. The state of Georgia ruled his death as an accident, having died from positional asphyxia. When the family hired their own Forensic Pathologist, not only did he find KJ’s organs missing from his body during the autopsy, he determined the cause of death to be from non-accidental blunt force trauma. To this day, no one knows where KJ’s organs have gone.. So what really happened to KJ?

FINDING KENDRICK JOHNSON is the feature documentary product of a 4-year undercover investigation into the facts of this case. From the creator of 'Stranger Fruit', this new documentary hopes to shed light on one of the most important American stories of our time.

Told through the eyes of KJ's family and close friends, Narrated by Hollywood legend, Jenifer Lewis, Directed by 'Stranger Fruit' creator, Jason Pollock, with an amazing team of Producers including Actor Hill Harper, and Space Jam 2 Director Malcolm D. Lee, FINDING KENDRICK JOHNSON shares this truly historic, heartbreaking, and unbelievable story with the world for the first time.

Finding Kendrick Johnson pic 2

On January 11th, 2013, Kendrick Johnson was found dead in his high school gymnasium rolled up in a gym mat. The state of Georgia ruled his death as an accident, having died from positional asphyxia. When the family hired their own Forensic Pathologist, not only did he find KJ’s organs missing from his body during the autopsy, he determined the cause of death to be from non-accidental blunt force trauma. To this day, no one knows where KJ’s organs have gone.. So what really happened to KJ?

FINDING KENDRICK JOHNSON is the feature documentary product of a 4-year undercover investigation into the facts of this case. From the creator of 'Stranger Fruit', this new documentary hopes to shed light on one of the most important American stories of our time.

Told through the eyes of KJ's family and close friends, Narrated by Hollywood legend, Jenifer Lewis, Directed by 'Stranger Fruit' creator, Jason Pollock, with an amazing team of Producers including Actor Hill Harper, and Space Jam 2 Director Malcolm D. Lee, FINDING KENDRICK JOHNSON shares this truly historic, heartbreaking, and unbelievable story with the world for the first time.

Finding Kendrick Johnson pic 3
Finding Kendrick Johnson pic 4

“The case of Kendrick Johnson is one the most important cases in U.S. history,” says writer/director Jason Pollock. “KJ deserves justice, and hopefully our film will help his family get one step closer to that outcome.”

"This is the most important film I've ever worked on,” says actor and activist Jenifer Lewis. “What this family has gone through is unspeakable but we must speak it so the public knows the truth. Jason has done a brilliant job on this vital story of injustice.”

FINDING KENDRICK JOHNSON is now available on digital and video on demand and will be heading to theaters nationwide this Fall, before premiering on Starz in December 2021.

View Trailer Below!



Gravitas Ventures Acquires Powerful First Responder PTSD Documentary “Florian’s Knights” For Audiences Everywhere

“Florian’s Knights”  Will Open Theatrically on September 10th Timed to the 20th Anniversary of 9/11 in Theaters Across North America
Before a TVOD/Digital & Blu-Ray/DVD on November 23rd

Gravitas Ventures, a Red Arrow Studios company, has acquired North America digital rights to filmmaker Panayioti Yannitsos (“Freedom Besieged”) powerful feature documentary “Florian’s Knights.” Crowbar Pictures, Inc will first release the film in theaters across North America on September 10th, 2021 timed to the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Markets to be included in the theatrical rollout – New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, Chicago, Denver, Phoenix, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, and Saskatoon. Gravitas Ventures will release across all TVOD/Digital platforms & Blu-Ray/DVD throughout the North American continent beginning on November 23rd, 2021. A Canadian production, Yannitsos’ new documentary chronicles firefighters in both the US and Canada who form a controversial motorcycle club to cope with the crippling effects of PTSD. As the Florian’s Knights full patch motorcycle club, the freedom felt on two wheels inspires North American firefighters to speak truth against the stigma of first responder mental health and outlaw biker culture. From the impact of 9/11, to the front lines of the opioid crisis in Vancouver and Toronto, and across the bridge to the arson epidemic in Detroit, Florian’s Knights travel to the darkest pits of the human experience. The real traumas of firefighting are exposed in ways never-before-seen.

“With his unprecedented access, filmmaker Panayioti Yannitsos has crafted a timely, visceral and moving doc that candidly explores the repeated trauma that fire fighters experience, the fallout and what they have ultimately found will help them heal; two wheels and an open road. The unexpected and devastating twist to this story further exposes the difficulties these first responders face in finding support for the sacrifices they make for society making this is a much watch film for all.” – Megan Huggins, Acquisitions Coordinator at Gravitas Ventures.

In April of 2018, director Panayioti Yannitsos met with Crowbar Pictures founder Shawn Galvao to discuss the Florian’s Knights; a new firefighter motorcycle club making waves across North America. Driving home from that meeting, Pan found himself bumper-to-bumper with retired Vancouver Battalion Chief Rod MacDonald, who was riding his motorcycle, a Florian’s Knights patch on his back. Staring at the patch for several minutes in traffic, the serendipitous event convinced Yannitsos to sign on to direct the film. Over the course of three years, Yannitsos and a core team of only four fellow filmmakers slept in fire halls across North America, often in 24-hour shifts, responding to emergencies in real time.

“For over a century, firefighters in North America have grappled with the harsh reality of post-traumatic stress. In pursuit of making this movie, we were faced with a code of silence engrained in fire departments for generations. I knew that this moratorium on mental health was costing men and women their lives, whether through substance abuse, depression, or suicide and I felt a responsibility to shine a light on this very human struggle and bring it to audiences.” – filmmaker Panayioti Yannitsos.

“Florian’s Knights” follows the lives of a number of first responders and experts. All of the following documentary subjects will be available for press interviews – Firefighter Matthew Sabini (New York Fire Department / Florian’s Knights MC), Retired Captain Erik Bjarnason (North Vancouver Fire Dept / Florian's Knights MC), Retired Battalion Chief Rod MacDonald (Vancouver Fire Dept / Florian’s Knights MC), Acting Captain Bill Shokar (New Westminster Fire Department / Florian’s Knights MC), Captain Jack Cooper (Toronto Fire Service / Florian’s Knights MC), Battalion Chief Michael V. Nevin (Detroit Fire Department), Senior Lieutenant Darnell McLaurin (Detroit Fire Department / Axemen MC), and Dr. Don Vaughn, PHD (Neuroscientist, UCLA).

Dr. Don Vaughn, Michael Maggiora, and their team measured the brain activity, heart rate, and hormone levels of over 50 experienced motorcycle riders in “Project Free.” The study was peer reviewed and accepted by Brain Research. The study concluded that riding a motorcycle can decrease hormonal biomarkers of stress. The work was funded by a grant from Harley-Davidson.

“Florian’s Knights” is directed, edited & produced by Panayioti Yannitsos, executive produced by Shawn Galvao, with cinematography by Jon Thomas (“The Angel Tree”) & Blake Davey (“Someone Like Me,” “Rupture”), and sound design by Jamie Spittal (“Freedom Besieged”).

Additional markets interested in theatrical bookings should contact Henry Lystad at Adventure Entertainment

Panayioti Yannitsos negotiated on behalf of the filmmaking team directly with Megan Huggins, Acquisitions Coordinator at Gravitas Ventures.

Where to follow the film and its journey:
Website: www.floriansknightsmovie.com
Facebook: @FloriansKnightsMovie
Instagram: @FloriansKnightsMovi
Twitter: @FloriansKnights

About Gravitas Ventures
Gravitas Ventures, a Red Arrow Studios company, is a leading all rights distributor of independent feature films and documentaries. Founded in 2006, Gravitas connects independent filmmakers and producers with distribution opportunities across the globe. Working with talented directors and producers, Gravitas Ventures has distributed thousands of films into over a hundred million homes in North America - over one billion homes worldwide. Recent releases include Our Friend directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, starring Casey Affleck, Dakota Johnson, and Jason Segel,Vanguard, directed by Stanley Tong and starring Jackie Chan, The Secret: Dare to Dream, directed by Andy Tennant and starring Katie Holmes; End of Sentence starring Logan Lerman and John Hawkes; Looks that Kill; Tread; Loopers: The Caddie’s Long Walk, narrated by Bill Murray; and Colin Hanks’ All Things Must Pass. For more information, please visit gravitasventures.com, and follow @GravitasVOD on Twitter and @gravitasventures on Instagram.

About Red Arrow Studios
Red Arrow Studios is one of the world’s leading creators and distributors of entertainment content, comprised of an acclaimed network of international production companies and labels in seven territories; world-leading digital studio, Studio71, based in six countries; and global film and TV distributors Red Arrow Studios International and Gravitas Ventures. The group’s significant output includes scripted, non-scripted and formatted content and IP, from TV and film to short-form and branded content, made for an array of global networks and platforms. Red Arrow Studios is part of ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE, one of Europe's leading media groups. redarrowstudios.com

 

Tom Surgal’s ‘FIRE MUSIC’ Opens Friday, September 10th

Submaribe Deluxe logo

Submarine Deluxe Presents in Association with Joseph Wemple, Films We Like, and Mexican Summer 'FIRE MUSIC'

Sigma 7 Ornette Coleman
Sigma 7 Ornette Coleman

Director and Writer: Tom TurgalL
Featuring: Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra & His Arkestra, Albert Ayler, Cecil Taylor, Eric Dolphy and many more.
Genre: Documentary
Runtime: 1 hour 28 minutes
Country: USA

FIRE MUSIC opens theatrically in New York at the Film Forum on Friday, September 10th and Los Angeles at the Laemmle Glendale on September 17th with a national
release to follow.

FIRE MUSIC is an official selection of the New York Film Festival

John Tchicai Münster
John Tchicai Münster

Although the free jazz movement of the 1960s and ‘70s was much maligned in some jazz circles, its pioneers – brilliant talents like Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, and John Coltrane – are today acknowledged as central to the evolution of jazz as America’s most innovative art form. FIRE MUSIC showcases the architects of a movement whose radical brand of improvisation pushed harmonic and rhythmic boundaries and produced landmark albums like Coleman’s Free Jazz: A Collective Inspiration and Coltrane’s Ascension. A rich trove of archival footage conjures the 1960s jazz scene along with incisive reflections by critic Gary Giddins and a number of the movement’s key players.

Writer / Director Tom Surgal is known for directing a series of groundbreaking music videos for leading alternative bands like Sonic Youth, Pavement and The Blues Explosion. Tom was initially mentored in filmmaking by Brian De Palma and would go on to work in a wide range of film production jobs, including production design and casting. Tom is also a musician who has performed regularly with Nels Cline (Wilco), Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Jim O'Rourke and Mike Watt (Minutemen, The Stooges) and is co-leader of the improvisational ensemble White Out. He is also a curator who has programmed celebrated music series at various downtown New York venues, including an entire month of shows at John Zorn's hallowed performance space The Stone.

Tom is recognized as a leading authority on Avant-Garde Jazz and boasts one of the world's largest collections of Free Jazz recordings.