OUR AMERICAN FAMILY US Theatrical Release in New York (Cinema Village), Los Angeles (Laemmle Monica) on September 2nd and on VOD in the US and Canada on Major Platforms on September 6th, Timed to National Recovery Month

GIANT PICTURES PRESENTS A World of HA Productions Film in association with Atlas Industries and The Intellectual Property Corporation 

OAF POSTER a1

Directed & Produced by Hallee Adelman & Sean King O’Grady
Executive Producer: Caroline Libresco
Run Time: 1 hour 27 minutes
Genre: Feature Length Documentary
Country: USA

WINNER! Woodstock Film Festival 2021- Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature

Photo 2- Our American Family (Giant Pictures)

Addiction is an all-encompassing force, in not only of the lives of the afflicted, but also those around them. OUR AMERICAN FAMILY provides an honest, unfiltered look at a close-knit Philadelphia family dealing with generational substance abuse. Captured at a pivotal “nothing to lose” moment, for over the course of a year, five family members tired of life with addiction on center stage, each struggle to transcend their crippling histories. 

What will it take to shift this entrenched, wrenching pattern in their lives? Will they be able to make significant shifts to help their next generation? The members of  OUR AMERICAN FAMILY   invite us into their lives to find hope and to explore what’s possible. Though they often falter, their familial loyalty is powerful, demonstrating how through love and dedication people can rise out of the deepest depths. For a touching, eye-opening look into one of America's most pressing crises, look no further.

OUR AMERICAN FAMILY- Co Director Sean O'Grady Headshot

OUR AMERICAN FAMILY opens in September timed to National Recovery Month, a national observance held every September to promote and support new evidence-based treatment and recovery practices, the emergence of a strong and proud recovery community, and the dedication of service providers and community members across the nation who make recovery in all its forms possible.

Photo 3- Our American Family (Giant Pictures)

Adventure Entertainment Brings Digitally Remastered 50th Anniversary of “Five Summer Stories” To Theatres Across the U.S. & Canada Beginning on August 12th

Greg MacGillivray’s Iconic Surf Film Offers Cultural Time Capsule To Cinema Audiences in Over 50 Markets  

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 (Laguna Beach, CA—July 29, 2022) Adventure Entertainment continues to bring extraordinary stories to North American audiences this summer with MacGillivray Freeman Films (MFF), the world’s foremost independent producer of original giant-screen films for IMAX® theatres, and co-founder Greg MacGillivrays 50th Anniversary special release of the company’s digitally remastered classic surf documentary, “Five Summer Stories” (1972)widely considered the greatest surf film ever made, beginning on August 12th. A cultural touchstone and time capsule from a truly watershed era when the world was at a critical crossroads, “Five Summer Stories” captures the state of surfing on the verge of creative transition, raising the surf film art form to a new level and setting the genre’s artistic standards for the next two decades. 

(Laguna Beach, CA—July 29, 2022) Adventure Entertainment continues to bring extraordinary stories to North American audiences this summer with MacGillivray Freeman Films (MFF), the world’s foremost independent producer of original giant-screen films for IMAX® theatres, and co-founder Greg MacGillivrays 50th Anniversary special release of the company’s digitally remastered classic surf documentary, “Five Summer Stories” (1972)widely considered the greatest surf film ever made, beginning on August 12th. A cultural touchstone and time capsule from a truly watershed era when the world was at a critical crossroads, “Five Summer Stories” captures the state of surfing on the verge of creative transition, raising the surf film art form to a new level and setting the genre’s artistic standards for the next two decades. 

Adventure Entertainment will bring this beloved epic documentary to audiences theatrically across North America (U.S. and Canada) in cinemas in more than 50 markets. This 50th Anniversary theatrical release is perfectly timed to coincide with the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, when surfing captures the imagination of viewers around the world. Filmmakers will be in attendance for Q&As at screening events in select markets, and community partnerships with the Surfrider Foundation, a grassroots nonprofit ocean conservation organization, as well as Quiksilver, a heritage surf brand, will support these events in select locations. Quiksilver will be releasing a limited edition t-shirt for the film’s release, available soon.

Says director Greg MacGillivray: “With Five Summer Stories, Jim and I sought to make a state-of-the-art surf film that would reflect the broader cultural shifts happening in the late 60s and early 70s, when youth culture was experimenting in so many creative ways and surfing was going through its own pivotal transition. The film really took the surfing world by storm, and I think today’s audiences will find it relevant and exciting in ways we couldn’t have imagined fifty years ago.”

Five Summer Stories” first premiered in 1972 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and was quickly deemed “the greatest surf film ever made.”  The film’s unusual format—a montage of five-plus stories or vignettes—perfectly captured a fractured era in which an explosion of creativity and revolutionary change was shaking down the old order, taking the sport of surfing off into new and unknown territory.  Although the film went through several (and increasingly popular) incarnations as it played in theaters over a seven-year span from 1972 to 1979, its fundamental story remained the same—that the pure, innocent joy of surfing was symbolic of humankind’s best possibilities on Earth without war or politics or environmental destruction.  The film features music by the Beach Boys and Honk.

Greg MacGillivray holds a very unique place in filmmaking history with a career that spans more than 60 years, first as an innovative filmmaker who revolutionized surf movies with classic surf documentaries like A Cool Wave of Color and Five Summer Stories with creative partner Jim Freemanto working in Hollywood with such celebrated filmmakers as Stanley Kubrick on The Shining and on films like Big Wednesday, The Towering Inferno, Blade Runner, Jonathan Livingston Seagull and Koyaanisqatsi, then becoming a pioneer and champion of the 70mm IMAX® format and creator of some of the most iconic cinematography ever captured for giant screen films, including Everest, the highest-grossing IMAX film of all time.

"Five Summer Stories” is directed and produced by Greg MacGillivray and Jim Freeman, and photographed by MacGillivray, FreemanBud Browne (“Going Surfin’”) and George Greenough, with narration written by Drew Kampion and music composed by the 1970s rock/surf band Honk and featuring songs by the Beach Boys.

Key Premiere Dates

Aug 3        Regency Wharf Cinema, Lahaina, HI

Aug 5        Regent Theatre, Arlington, MA

Aug 5        Magic Lantern, Bridgton, ME

Aug7&10  CMX Theatres in 6 Florida markets

Aug 7&10 CMX Pinnacle, Gulf Shores, AL

Aug 7        Manship Theatre, Baton Rouge, LA

Aug 9        Jane Pickens Theater, Newport, RI

Aug 9        Hopewell Theatre, Hopewell, NJ

Aug 12      La Paloma Theatre, Encinitas, CA   

Aug 23      Regency South Coast Village, Costa Mesa, CA  

Aug 25      Laemmle Monica Film Center, Santa Monica, CA

Sep 3         Arena Theater, Point Arena, CA

Sept 4        Southampton Arts Center, Southampton, NY

Sept 12      Metrolux 10, San Clemente, CA

Additional screenings will be held through the U.S. and Canada through September.  View the complete list of screening dates here: http://fivesummerstories.com/

The publication of MFF company co-founder Greg MacGillivray’s visual memoir, Five Hundred Summer Stories, will follow the theatrical release of “Five Summer Stories” and will be released on November 15th, 2022. Illustrated with more than 500 photographs and filmmaking artifacts from MacGillivray’s extensive archive, as well as story contributions by legendary surfers Gerry Lopez and Bill Hamilton, and filmmakers such as Stephen Judson, Brad Ohlund and Howard Hall.   https://500summerstories.com/

About Greg MacGillivray & MacGillivray Freeman Films
Greg MacGillivray is one of the most prolific and successful documentary filmmakers of all time, with 60 films to his credit. He started making surf films when he was just 13 and later partnered with Jim Freeman to form MacGillivray Freeman Films in 1966. Since the 1976 production of their first IMAX film, To Fly!, Greg has produced some of the most enduring films in the giant-screen genre and has received two Academy Award® nominations for Best Documentary Short Subject for The Living Sea and Dolphins. MacGillivray Freeman Films is the first documentary production company to reach the $1 billion benchmark in worldwide gross ticket sales. Greg is also a passionate ocean conservationist, and with his wife Barbara founded the MacGillivray Freeman Films Educational Foundation. https://macgillivrayfreeman.com/.

About Adventure Entertainment:
Sydney-based, and operating in
 more than a dozen countries on 4 continents, Adventure Entertainment is making literal and metaphorical waves in the adventure film world with over 10 film touring platforms, and dozens of feature films in recent distribution. Specializing in producing live, eventized, theatrical film screenings, AE is leading the way in innovative, community-based marketing and generating pre, and post-show buzz in the entertainment industry. In addition to "Rookie Season," other 2021/22 titles include National Geographic's " TornRed Bull Media House's "La Liste: Everything or nothingand "Buried” from Oscar-winning producers Evan Hayes and Michael Sugar. See more at adventureentertainment.com

OUR AMERICAN FAMILY U.S. Theatrical Release on September 2nd in New York and Los Angeles and on VOD Major Platforms in the US and Canada on September 6th. Timed to National Recovery Month

GIANT PICTURES PRESENT

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

OAF POSTER a1

Directors & Producers: Hallee Adelman & Sean King O’Grady
Executive Producer: Caroline Libresco
Genre: Feature Length Documentary
Country: USA
Run time: 1 hour 27 minutes

OUR AMERICAN FAMILY U.S. Theatrical release on September 2nd in New York (Cinema Village), Los Angeles (Laemmle Monica) and on VOD major platforms in the US and Canada on September 6th Timed to National Recovery Month.

WINNER! Woodstock Film Festival 2021- Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature

Addiction is an all-encompassing force, in not only of the lives of the afflicted, but also those around them. OUR AMERICAN FAMILY provides an honest, unfiltered look at a close-knit Philadelphia family dealing with generational substance abuse. Captured at a pivotal “nothing to lose” moment, for over the course of a year, five family members tired of life with addiction on center stage, each struggle to transcend their crippling histories. 

What will it take to shift this entrenched, wrenching pattern in their lives? Will they be able to make significant shifts to help their next generation? The members of  OUR AMERICAN FAMILY   invite us into their lives to find hope and to explore what’s possible. Though they often falter, their familial loyalty is powerful, demonstrating how through love and dedication people can rise out of the deepest depths. For a touching, eye-opening look into one of America's most pressing crises, look no further.

OUR AMERICAN FAMILY opens in September timed to National Recovery Month, a national observance held every September to promote and support new evidence-based treatment and recovery practices, the emergence of a strong and proud recovery community, and the dedication of service providers and community members across the nation who make recovery in all its forms possible.

HALLEE ADELMAN, DIRECTOR/PRODUCER
Hallee Adelman is a writer, filmmaker, and co-founder of World of HA Productions. She is an executive producer on the Emmy-winning documentary “The Social Dilemma,” and the Oscar-nominated international film, “Writing with Fire.” Other titles include the Academy shortlisted, “The Truffle Hunters,” the Sundance premiere “UsKids,” and the soon to be released, “Art & Krimes by Krimes.” Recent festival premieres, “Aisha,” “Broadway Rising,” and “Your Friend, Memphis.” Adelman is a Board Member of the International Documentary Association. Adelman co-directed and produced OUR AMERICAN FAMILY after a writing project deepened her connection with the brave participants featured in the film.

SEAN O’GRADY, DIRECTOR/PRODUCER
Sean King O’Grady is a filmmaker based in Michigan. His award-winning feature films have screened at Sundance, Tribeca, Telluride, Berlinale, Sitges, SXSW and dozens of other festivals around the world.

FILM WEBSITE:
https://ouramericanfamilyfilm.com

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

ABOUT GIANT PICTURES

Giant Pictures is a leading digital distributor that partners with studios and filmmakers to release movies and series across all major streaming platforms, including Apple TV, Netflix, Tubi, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, IMDb TV, Peacock, and more. Release your movie your way with Giant Pictures.

Learn more at:  giant.pictures.

View The New Clip for ‘THE STORY WON’T DIE’, Out On VOD in US, Canada, UK and Worldwide on June 21, World Refugee Day

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Director: David Henry Gerson
Producer: Odessa Rae (NAVALNY)
Co-Producers: Abdalaziz Alhamza, Colleen Ritzau Leth and Martin Marquet
Featuring: Medhat Aldaabal, Tammam Azzam, Diala Brisly, Abu Hajar, Bahila Hijazi, Omar Imam, Lynn Mayya, Anas Maghrebi and Mhd Sabboura
Genre: Feature Documentary
Rating: Not Yet Rated
Run Time: 1 hour 23 minutes
Country: USA/Germany

VOD PLATFORMS INCLUDE: Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Google TV, Vimeo + and more|

OFFICIAL SELECTION: Hot Docs, AFI Docs, Watch Docs and many more!

WINNER! Best Director at Doc LA and Best Feature Doc at FIC Autor Guadalajara.

THE STORY WON’T DIE, from Award-winning filmmaker David Henry Gerson, is an inspiring, timely look at a young generation of Syrian artists who use their work to protest and process what is currently the world’s largest and longest ongoing displacement of people since World War II. The film is produced by Sundance Award-winning producer Odessa Rae (Navalny).

Rapper Abu Hajar, together with other celebrated creative personalities of the Syrian uprising, a post-Rock musician (Anas Maghrebi), members of the first all-female Syrian rock band (Bahila Hijazi and Lynn Mayya), break-dancer (Bboy Shadow), choreographer (Medhat Aldaabal), and visual artists (Tammam Azzam, Omar Imam and Diala Brisly), use their art to rise in revolution and endure in exile in this new documentary reflecting on a battle for peace, justice and freedom of expression. It is an uplifting and humanizing look at what it means to be a refugee in today’s world and offers inspiring and hopeful vantages on a creative response to the chaos of war. 

DAVID HENRY GERSON  is a filmmaker whose work has won prizes from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Sundance Film Festival, and has been acquired into the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in NY. He is a graduate of Columbia University and the American Film Institute, where he was the recipient of the AFI Richard P. Rodgers Award for Creative Excellence. His film, ALL THESE VOICES, won the Student Academy Award®. David’s spec screenplay, ABOVE KINGS, was nominated to the Tracking Board Hit List and was a semifinalist for the Academy’s Nicholl Fellowship. His documentary film ULTRA VIOLET FOR SIXTEEN MINUTES (“Totally engaging” - Al Maysles), screened at festivals worldwide, the Pompidou Museum in Paris, and was acquired into the permanent collection of the MoMA. THE STORY WON’T DIE is his debut feature. 

David Henry Gerson’s Award-winning Documentary ‘THE STORY WON’T DIE’ Opens Theatrically Today in Los Angeles the LAEMMLE CINEMAS and in New York at Cinema Village on June 17th

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Director: David Henry Gerson
Producer: Odessa Rae (NAVALNY)
Co-Producers: Abdalaziz Alhamza (Subject of Matthew Heineman's CITY OF GHOSTS), Colleen Ritzau Leth and Martin Marquet (EPICENTRO, THE BALLAD OF GENESIS AND LADY JAYE)
Featuring: Medhat Aldaabal, Tammam Azzam, Diala Brisly, Abu Hajar, Bahila Hijazi, Omar Imam, Lynn Mayya, Anas Maghrebi and Mhd Sabboura (BBoy Shadow)
Genre: Feature Documentary
Rating: Not Yet Rated
Run Time:
1 hour 23 Minutes

Worldwide VOD release on major platforms June 21st . Timed for World Refugee Day VOD Platforms include: Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Google TV, Vimeo + and more

OFFICIAL SELECTION: Hot Docs, AFI Docs, Watch Docs and many more.

WINNER! Best Director at Doc LA and Best Feature Doc at FIC Autor Guadalajara. 

 Lynn Mayya in THE STORY WON'T DIE (Photo Credit_ RaeFilm Studios)
Lynn Mayya in THE STORY WON'T DIE (Photo Credit_ RaeFilm Studios)

THE STORY WON’T DIE, from Award-winning filmmaker David Henry Gerson, is an inspiring, timely look at a young generation of Syrian artists who use their work to protest and process what is currently the world’s largest and longest ongoing displacement of people since World War II. The film is produced by Sundance Award-winning producer Odessa Rae (Navalny).

Bboy Shadow (aka Mhd Sabboura) in THE STORY WON'T DIE (Photo Credit_ RaeFilm Studios)
Bboy Shadow (aka Mhd Sabboura) in THE STORY WON'T DIE (Photo Credit_ RaeFilm Studios)

DAVID HENRY GERSON  is a filmmaker whose work has won prizes from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Sundance Film Festival, and has been acquired into the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in NY. He is a graduate of Columbia University and the American Film Institute, where he was the recipient of the AFI Richard P. Rodgers Award for Creative Excellence. His film, ALL THESE VOICES, won the Student Academy Award®. David’s spec screenplay, ABOVE KINGS, was nominated to the Tracking Board Hit List and was a semifinalist for the Academy’s Nicholl Fellowship. His documentary film ULTRA VIOLET FOR SIXTEEN MINUTES (“Totally engaging” - Al Maysles), screened at festivals worldwide, the Pompidou Museum in Paris, and was acquired into the permanent collection of the MoMA.

THE STORY WON'T DIE (Photo Credit_ RaeFilm Studios)
THE STORY WON'T DIE (Photo Credit_ RaeFilm Studios)

Website/ Social Media
www.thestorywontdie.com

@thestorywontdie

Dances with Films West Coast Premiere of Award-Winning Animated Documentary “Eternal Spring (長春)” on June 15th

Loft Sky Pictures groundbreaking filmmaker Jason Loftus (“Ask No Questions”) latest film, the powerful animated documentary “Eternal Spring (長春)”  will make its West Coast Premiere at this year’s Dances With Films  (June 9th—19th, 2022), now on Wednesday, June 15th with a 7pm premiere at the TCL Chinese 6 Theaters (in the Hollywood & Highland complex in Los Angeles).

Confronted with government denunciations and human rights violations against their spiritual practice, a group of Chinese activists executes a bold and perilous plan to hack into state television.

“Eternal Spring (長春)” is a multiple award winner, most recently having won Hot Docs Audience Award for best film and the Rogers Audience Award for best Canadian film, and both the audience and jury awards for International Documentary Feature Film at Mammoth Lakes Film Festival“Eternal Spring As you know reviews from major film critics are a game changer for the release & awards trajectory of an independent film.

This extraordinary harmony of animation & documentary has been awarded and acclaimed across Europe in its Film Festival run thus far for its groundbreaking animation – and of particular note, has been its incredible comic-book-style animation that transports the viewer into the brave and heroic world of a group of Falun Gong practitioners. “Eternal Spring ( 長春)” with its story of survival at all costs & battle for human rights continues to draw powerful comparisons to beloved Oscar nominee “Flee.”

Matt Waldeck’s Directorial Feature Film Debut “Lovely Jackson” has World Premiere at American Black Film Festival on June 17th.

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Zodiac Features’ bold new biographical true crime DocuThriller, “Lovely Jackson”, the feature film directorial debut from filmmaker Matt Waldeck, p.g.a. (“I See You”) ahead of its world premiere at the iconic American Black Film Festival on June 17th. 

A True Crime –  In 1975 YOUNG RICKEY and his two friends are convicted of the robbery and murder of Harold Franks without any physical evidence and based largely on the coerced false eye-witness testimony of then 12-year-old neighborhood paperboy, YOUNG EDWARD VERNON.  At just eighteen-years-old, Rickey is sentenced to die in the electric chair.  He spends two and a half years on death row and sees a number of his fellow death row inmates complete the “Death Walk”, the name given by the condemned to the “last thirty steps of your life” before getting strapped in to ride the lighting and die.  Rickey is just 82 days away from death by electrocution when miraculously, executions in Ohio are temporarily outlawed and all death sentences are commuted to life in prison.  Rickey stays alive for now, but before him lay a different challenge—surviving general population in Ohio’s most dangerous prison.

Film Synopsis:

LOVELY JACKSON is exonerated prisoner Rickey Jackson’s daring first-hand account of the psychology of survival and spiritual fortitude required to withstand 39 years of wrongful incarceration for a murder he didn’t commit.  At the time of his release in 2014, Rickey was the longest wrongfully incarcerated person in U.S. history—spending 39 years on death row and in Ohio’s most dangerous prisons after being convicted solely on the coerced eye-witness testimony of a 12-year-old neighborhood paper boy.

Lovely Jackson sees Rickey return to the prison where he was sent in 1976 on his way to the electric chair where he narrates and stars in reenactments alongside professional actors (one playing his younger self), and the (then) 12-year-old paper boy, now in his late 50’s.

Lovely Jackson is a boldly cinematic, epic journey that begins in tragedy, hopelessness, injustice, and death, but ends in hope, beauty, and new life.

Lovely Jackson”  is presented by H.E.L.P. in association with Zodiac Holdings and is a Zodiac Features production, directed by Matt Waldeck, written by Rickey Jackson and Matt Waldeck, producers are Rickey Jackson, Matt Waldeck,  Ben Hecht (“I See You”), Travis Killian, and Jillian Wolstein, with music by Jacques Brautbar (“It Ain’t Over”),mcinematography by John Turk (“Madtown”), and editing by Mark Andrew Hamer (“The Hunting”) and Lori Lovoy-Goran (“Kid 90”).

‘THE QUEST: Nepal’ Movie Review

THE QUEST Nepal - Poster

Year: 2022
Director and Writer: Alex Harz
Starring: Alex Harz, Tashi Sherpa, Hanuman Baba, Russell Brice, Mike Hamill, and more,
Genre: Documentary

The Many Rewards in Fulfilling a Childhood Promise

Harz said, “often, the best way to get to know the true essence of a city, is walking its streets and talking to its people.”

He is true to his word as he explores the villages and the people of the city of Kathmandou and the country of Nepal, that call it home, as he prepares to take on the Himalayan mountain’s Mt. Everest.

It includes stops along the Bagmati River, a holy river to both the Hindu and Buddhist religions, where cremations are performed for Hindu believers. The Sherpa culture is explained. He visits the town of Namche Bazaar, in the north-eastern area of Nepal, that is a major trading hub for the area.

Alex Approaching the South Summit of Everest
Alex Approaching the South Summit of Everest
We see the memorial for all those who lost their life in their own quest to climb the mountain

The beauty of the environment and the primitive natural of so much of daily life in the Khumka Valley and the Sherpa culture that required to make the climb, stands out in the film. Human, animals and helicopters are the only mean of transportation for people and transporting of goods.

The cinematography provides a fantastic background and setting for the harrowing climb. The dialogue provides a great opportunity to learn about the people and the history of the region. Hart's editing gives a nice flow from the first the last scene. THE QUEST: Nepal’ is a good film that accomplishes a promise that is rewarding by itself, when combined with the introduction of the people of Kathmandou and the history of their city and country of Nepal, beauty of Mt. Everest and the surrounding Himalayan mountain adds to magnificence of Harz's journey.
Release May 2022
Distributor: Gravitas Ventures (2022) (USA) (all media), The Quest (2021) (USA) (all media)
Executive Producer:  Alex Harz 
Producer: Tate Zandstra  
Production Co: The Quest
Run time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Starring: Hanuman Baba as Hindu Sadhu, Russell Brice as Expedition Operator, Mike Hamill as Expedition Operator. Alex Harz Alex Harz as Host, Ang Tshering Lama as Mountain Guide,Erlend Ness as Everest Climber,Lama Nawang Paljor as Tibetan Buddhist Monk, Caroline Pemberton as Everest Journalist,Kumar Rupakheti as Nepalese Historian,Lakpa Rita Sherpa as Basecamp Manager,Mingma Chiri Sherpa as Everest Climber,Pasang T. Sherpa as Sherpa Barista,Pasang Temba Sherpa as Puja Monk, Phunjo Lama Sherpa as Mountain Guide,Riten Jangbu Sherpa as Expedition Sirdar, Tashi Sherpa as Trekking Guide, Tshering Sherpa as SPCC Director, Tshering Sarg Sherpa as Expedition Manager
Director and Writer: Alex Harz
Cinematographers: Alex Harz, Ang Tshering Lama, Manish Maharjan, Samuel Emerson Morgan, Alex Schauer, Riten Jangbu Sherpa, Ryan Waters 
Editors: Greg Bartlett, Alex Harz, Nicholas Orris, Tate Zandstra

“THE QUEST: Nepal” Release Today, May 24th Across All TVOD/Digital Platforms Throughout North America

THE QUEST Nepal - Poster

Gravitas Ventures will release THE QUEST: Nepal” across all TVOD/Digital platforms throughout North America – beginning today, May 24th, 2022, perfectly timed to International Everest Day.

THE QUEST: Nepal” is like combining Werner Herzog with Anthony Bourdain and a bit of  Bear Grylls on an extraordinary Quest to deeper understand and climb the most iconic mountain in the world, Everest, while unveiling the fascinating culture, history and nature of Nepal. Become enthralled by one of the most surreal cities on earth, Kathmandu, before embarking on an expedition up the sacred valley of the indigenous Sherpa people during a spectacular 9-day trek to Mt. Everest Base Camp situated at a staggering height of 17,500 feet / 5334 meters above sea level.

Alex Approaching the South Summit of Everest (2)

Feel what life is like to climb and survive for 43 more grueling days at 17,500 feet and above as we continue our epic Quest upward to try to reach the daunting 29,032 foot / 8849  meter summit of planet earth.  From experiencing Mt. Everest like never before to witnessing remarkable rarely seen stories from one of the most unique countries in the world, “THE QUEST: Nepal” is truly a one-of-a-kind cinematic journey like no other, and one which embodies the incredible human spirit of adventure that lives inside us all.

Film Threat Award This! Announces 2022 The Best of Independent Film Winners

Film Threat Celebrates The Best of Indie Filmmaking at Live In-Theater Ceremony

Film Threat,led by founder and filmmaker Chris Gore, and in conjunction with their partner Magical Threads, are thrilled to announce the Award This! 2022 winners. Award This!! nominees were selected from the nearly 2,000 indie films reviewed on Film Threat in 2021 (this year we extended our deadline into the first quarter of 2022 due to the pandemic). Award This! returned for its fourth year with a live in-person, in-theater event on Saturday, May 21st at non-profit arthouse cinema the Frida Cinema to honor the best and brightest in independent film. Film Threat’s Award This! has become an independent film industry staple celebrating the best in independent cinema.

“This years’ incredibly diverse Award This! nominees made deliberations brutal for our team. Amid two years of literal pandemic struggle, we saw the independent spirit in all its glory. We are honored to share our winners and encourage you to watch this years’ nominees,” said Chris Gore.

This years’ Award This! bold and diverse categories including Indie Sci-Fi, Indie Horror, Indie Comedy, Indie LGBTQ+ Film, Indie Action/Thriller, WTF Indie, Indie Romantic Comedy, Indie Drama, Music Documentary, Pop Culture Documentary, Socially-Relevant Documentary, Best Director, Best Directress, Indie Made for Less Than the Contents of an Oscar Gift Bag (Under $100K), and Indie Movie of the Year. The nominating board of Award This! is comprised of the staff of Film Threat’s editors and critics which number 30+ worldwide along with an advisory board of media figures and independent film luminaries.

Below please find this years’ winning films along side the complete list of independent films nominated for the Film Threat’s 2022 Award This! event.

Award This! Film About Movies or Filmmaking

Clapboard Jungle

Cleanin' Up the Town: Remembering Ghostbusters

Clerk.

Film Fest

Sam and Mattie Make a Zombie Movie – WINNER 

Award This! Music Documentary **(This Category was a tie)**

Holding These Moments – WINNER

The Jesus Music

Miss Angela

Rock Camp the Movie

The United States of Insanity – WINNER

Award This!  Socially Relevant Documentary **(This Category was a tie)**

Bastards' Road – WINNER

The Boys in Red Hats – WINNER

Finding Kendrick Johnson

Pharma Bro

Rebel Hearts

The Reunited States

Stronger For Life

Award This!  Pop Culture Documentary

Cleanin' Up the Town: Remembering Ghostbusters

 Clerk.

Lily Topples the World

More Than Miyagi – WINNER

Satoshi Kon: The Illusionist

Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savini

Award This! Documentary

Bastards' Road – WINNER

Clerk.

Finding Kendrick Johnson

Pharma Bro

Sam and Mattie Make a Zombie Movie

The United States of Insanity

Award This! Short Film

ASMR for White Liberals

Billy Kills the Internet – WINNER

BoxLife

Heavy Petting

KIA Summer Sales Event

Snake Dick

Award This! Indie Sci-Fi

The Changed

Glasshouse

God of Dreams – WINNER

Man Under Table

Nebulous Dark

Repeat

Award This! Indie Horror

Agnes

The Great And Terrible Day Of The Lord – WINNER

The Nest

Night At The Eagle Inn

Psycho Goreman

Slashening: The Final Beginning

Award This! Indie Comedy

Donny’s Bar Mitzvah

Golden Arm

Kitty Mammas

Spirit Quest

Tango Shalom – WINNER

Win a Trip to Browntown!

Award This! Indie LGBTQ+ Themed Film

HipBeat

Road Head

Shit & Champagne

Swan Song

X –WINNER

Award This! Indie Animation

Cryptozoo

Flee

The Spine Of Night – WINNER

Award This! Indie Action/Thriller

100 Days to Live

The Beta Test

Delicate State

How To Deter A Robber

Mafia Inc.

Shut In – WINNER

Award This! WTF Indie Like “What The Fuck Is This Move Even?   **(This Category was a tie)**

Baby Oopsie

Donny’s Bar Mitzvah

I, Challenger – WINNER

Mother Schmuckers

Road Head

Willy’s Wonderland – WINNER

Award This! Indie Romantic Comedy

Borrelia Borealis

Christmas On The Carousel

Honesty Weekend – WINNER

Lost At Christmas

Threebound

Win a Trip to Browntown!

Award This! Indie Drama

The In-Between

Lola

Shiva Baby

Single Mother By Choice – WINNER

Sweet Thing

Weekenders

Award This! Indie Made for Less Than the Contents of an Oscar Gift Bag (Under $100k)

Delicate State - WINNER

God of Dreams

Lola

Road Head

Tango Shalom

Win a Trip to Browntown! – WINNER

Award This! Director  **(This Category was a tie)**

The Beta Test (Jim Cummings, P.J. McCabe)

The Changed (Michael Mongillo)

Donny’s Bar Mitzvah (Jonathan Kaufman) – WINNER

God of Dreams (Jurian Isabelle)

Lola (Antonie Allen)

Shit & Champagne (D'Arcy Drollinger)

Shut In (D.J. Caruso)

Single Mother By Choice (Dan Levy Dagerman) – WINNER

Award This! Directress  **(This Category was a tie)**

Borrelia Borealis (Kathryne Isabelle Easton) – WINNER

Delicate State (Paula Rhodes) – WINNER

Glasshouse (Kelsey Egan)

Golden Arm (Maureen Bharoocha)

Honesty Weekend (Leslie Thomas)

How To Deter A Robber (Maria Bissell)

The In-Between (Mindy Bledsoe)

Shiva Baby (Emma Seligman)

Award This! Indie Movie of the Year

The Beta Test

Borrelia Borealis

The Changed

Delicate State

Donny’s Bar Mitzvah – WINNER

Night At The Eagle Inn

Repeat

Shiva Baby

Shut In

The Spine Of Night

Check out the official Award This! site for more information, including eligibility requirements for next year and don't forget to follow Award This! on FacebookInstagram and Twitter.