twist of faith Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Will 'Outrage' Become Tribeca Fest's Most Controversial Film?
Filed under: Documentary », New Releases », Tribeca », Magnolia », Celebrities and Controversy », Politics »
Documentary filmmaker Kirby Dick is no stranger to controversy, and it sounds like his latest project, set to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival later this month, might be the most eyebrow-raising yet. After addressing pedophile priests in Twist of Faith (which earned an Oscar nomination) and the corrupt MPAA ratings system in This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Dick is now going after a different breed of hypocrite: politicians who promote anti-gay legislation while secretly living gay lives themselves. The film is called Outrage, and our colleagues at IndieWIRE have seen an early cut of it. (Dick says they'll be editing right up to the last minute, to ensure timeliness.) The film has interviews with openly gay politicians like Barney Frank, but the real meat seems to be reporting on the closeted politicians -- mostly Republican men -- who rail against homosexuality publicly while engaging in it privately. IndieWIRE, while refraining from spoiling any surprises, says there are stories here that have not been publicized before. So it's not just Larry Craig and Mark Foley, but others, too.
If that's the case, then the weather forecast calls for major s***storms once the film debuts at Tribeca on April 24. Magnolia is releasing it theatrically shortly thereafter, on May 8, to capitalize on whatever brouhaha erupts; I hope that this doesn't cause the film to come across as vindictive or sensationalistic. I've admired all of Dick's previous documentaries, not least because they've stayed on the side of truth and justice and didn't engage too much in pettiness. Dick tells IndieWIRE that the purpose of the film is not just to out closeted politicians -- and that's good. If a politician (or anyone else) wants to stay closeted, that's fine. It's only when they're simultaneously endorsing public policies that hurt the gay community that it becomes an issue.
Lionsgate Picks Up Deliver Us From Evil
Filed under: Documentary », Independent », Deals », Lionsgate Films », Distribution », Cinematical Indie »
Lionsgate has acquired domestic distrib rights to Amy Berg's Deliver Us From Evil, a documentary about a pedophile Catholic priest whose crimes were concealed by the Church for 30 years. I saw the trailer for this film shortly before the Los Angeles Film Festival, where it made its world premiere and scored the top doc prize, and it was heavy stuff for this ex-Catholic schoolgirl. The film is told from the perspectives of both victim and perpetrator, and if watching Ollie O'Grady, the jolly ex-priest with white hair and twinkling blue eyes, smile while describing how he finds young children in their underwear "arousing" doesn't turn your stomach, well, you're made of stronger stuff than I am.
Particulary wrenching is an interview with the parents of one of the victims, who was just five years old when O'Grady raped her. That the Catholic Church knew about O'Grady's crimes, and yet covered them up for years, moving him around from parish to parish where he could prey on fresh victims, is beyond reprehensible, and Berg's camera bravely shows the tragic effects of the cover-up.
Pic comes on the heels of Kirby Dick's Twist of Faith, another riveting doc about pedophilila in the Catholic church, which focused on the trauma of a now-grown victim who is re-traumatized when the priest who abused him years before moves into his neighborhood. Twist of Faith showed at Sundance in 2005 and was nominated for an Oscar later that year.
Deliver Us From Evil is slated for a Fall 2006 release.









