Update: After this story was published, the “Origin” Twitter account was deleted.
Previously: After the release of her latest film “Origin,” director Ava DuVernay was vocal about her disappointment that the movie failed to garner widespread attention or awards buzz. Now, the X/Twitter account for “Origin” is taking aim at the distributor Neon, calling out the company for not inviting the filmmakers to its Oscar party.
Quote-tweeting a photo from the party, the account posted one day after the Academy Awards: “Is it odd that the filmmakers of Neon’s current film in theaters weren’t invited to this Neon celebration? Nope. Standard operating procedure for [founder Tom] Quinn and team. That’s how Neon rolls. More on this later.”
The event was hosted at the Hollywood Athletic Club by Neon, which touted its Oscar win for “Anatomy of a Fall,” which picked up best original screenplay on Sunday and was also nominated for best picture,...
Previously: After the release of her latest film “Origin,” director Ava DuVernay was vocal about her disappointment that the movie failed to garner widespread attention or awards buzz. Now, the X/Twitter account for “Origin” is taking aim at the distributor Neon, calling out the company for not inviting the filmmakers to its Oscar party.
Quote-tweeting a photo from the party, the account posted one day after the Academy Awards: “Is it odd that the filmmakers of Neon’s current film in theaters weren’t invited to this Neon celebration? Nope. Standard operating procedure for [founder Tom] Quinn and team. That’s how Neon rolls. More on this later.”
The event was hosted at the Hollywood Athletic Club by Neon, which touted its Oscar win for “Anatomy of a Fall,” which picked up best original screenplay on Sunday and was also nominated for best picture,...
- 3/12/2024
- by Ethan Shanfeld
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: As George Clinton is preparing to get his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a new documentary about the Parliament-Funkadelic founder is in the works.
Clinton, a funk pioneer, is the subject of Mommy, What’s a Funkadelic?.
The documentary is written by Ishmael Reed, the author behind novels including Mumbo, Jumbo and known as the father of Afrofuturism, and co-directed by Alan Elliott, director of Aretha Franklin film Amazing Grace, and Christopher Harris, director of films including Reckless Eyeballing and Still/Here.
CAA and 3Arts are helping the filmmakers find financing. You can watch a trailer, narrated by Harry Lennix and introduced by Presidential candidate Dr. Cornel West, below.
Mommy, What’s a Funkadelic? tells the story of Clinton, his alter egos and friends. It is a somewhat absurdist take on the history of Parliament-Funkadelic featuring never-before-granted access to his archive.
It comes as...
Clinton, a funk pioneer, is the subject of Mommy, What’s a Funkadelic?.
The documentary is written by Ishmael Reed, the author behind novels including Mumbo, Jumbo and known as the father of Afrofuturism, and co-directed by Alan Elliott, director of Aretha Franklin film Amazing Grace, and Christopher Harris, director of films including Reckless Eyeballing and Still/Here.
CAA and 3Arts are helping the filmmakers find financing. You can watch a trailer, narrated by Harry Lennix and introduced by Presidential candidate Dr. Cornel West, below.
Mommy, What’s a Funkadelic? tells the story of Clinton, his alter egos and friends. It is a somewhat absurdist take on the history of Parliament-Funkadelic featuring never-before-granted access to his archive.
It comes as...
- 1/19/2024
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Editor’s note: Tom Luddy, co-founder of the Telluride Film Festival, died last week at age 79. Here, filmmaker Alan Elliott, who directed the Aretha Franklin documentary Amazing Grace, remembers his kind spirit and moral compass. He also pays tribute to one of Luddy’s signature projects: a collaboration with Agnès Varda on an influential 1968 film about the Black Panthers.
Tom Luddy, the benevolent wizard/curator of the Telluride Film Festival, who, in the post-’60s glow of generational change in the film world, created safe space to get high (at altitude) for his people: film lovers.
Tom was non-denominational about “film lovers.” As eager to talk film with a total stranger in line at one of the smaller theaters at the festival as he was with Werner Herzog or Martin Scorsese, the socialistic mores of Telluride were a reflection of Tom. Pre-Covid, at a completely packed Saturday night screening at the Werner Herzog theater,...
Tom Luddy, the benevolent wizard/curator of the Telluride Film Festival, who, in the post-’60s glow of generational change in the film world, created safe space to get high (at altitude) for his people: film lovers.
Tom was non-denominational about “film lovers.” As eager to talk film with a total stranger in line at one of the smaller theaters at the festival as he was with Werner Herzog or Martin Scorsese, the socialistic mores of Telluride were a reflection of Tom. Pre-Covid, at a completely packed Saturday night screening at the Werner Herzog theater,...
- 2/20/2023
- by Alan Elliott
- Deadline Film + TV
The content available on most streaming services changes regularly, and Hulu is no exception. As such, having a handy guide for what to watch each month can be an invaluable resource. And so, without further ado, we present to you the 60 best movies on Hulu right now.
What can you expect from the Hulu catalog specifically? Well, for one, plenty of 20th Century productions, as well as films made under its specialty label, Searchlight Pictures. Ever since Disney bought Fox (which also gave the Mouse House a controlling share of Hulu), the streaming service has been the exclusive streaming destination for all 20th Century films. Hulu also has a pretty strong, albeit constantly revolving, selection of films from other studios, so there's plenty of good stuff to choose from. Given that HBO Max seems to be going through some turbulent times, Hulu currently seems to be the go-to place for...
What can you expect from the Hulu catalog specifically? Well, for one, plenty of 20th Century productions, as well as films made under its specialty label, Searchlight Pictures. Ever since Disney bought Fox (which also gave the Mouse House a controlling share of Hulu), the streaming service has been the exclusive streaming destination for all 20th Century films. Hulu also has a pretty strong, albeit constantly revolving, selection of films from other studios, so there's plenty of good stuff to choose from. Given that HBO Max seems to be going through some turbulent times, Hulu currently seems to be the go-to place for...
- 8/23/2022
- by Layla Halfhill
- Slash Film
“Amazing Grace” arrived in theaters in 2019, some 47 years after the Aretha Franklin concert film was shot in a South L.A. church. The path to the screen was strewn with litigation — including an aborted premiere at the Telluride Film Festival that was halted by an injunction.
The film won raves from critics and was one of the year’s top grossing documentaries. But three years after its release, the litigation goes on.
On Wednesday, producer Alan Elliott filed suit in New York, accusing indie distributor Neon of botching the film’s release and awards campaign.
Elliott alleges that Neon prematurely announced it had acquired the film, scaring off potential rivals, and then failed to live up to its obligations once the deal was done. The suit alleges that Neon failed to properly market the film, particularly in African American communities.
“Neon kept the Picture out of theaters and away from...
The film won raves from critics and was one of the year’s top grossing documentaries. But three years after its release, the litigation goes on.
On Wednesday, producer Alan Elliott filed suit in New York, accusing indie distributor Neon of botching the film’s release and awards campaign.
Elliott alleges that Neon prematurely announced it had acquired the film, scaring off potential rivals, and then failed to live up to its obligations once the deal was done. The suit alleges that Neon failed to properly market the film, particularly in African American communities.
“Neon kept the Picture out of theaters and away from...
- 8/12/2022
- by Gene Maddaus
- Variety Film + TV
Aretha Franklin documentary Amazing Grace, which tells the story of the singer’s 1972 gospel album, is subject of more legal issues.
The film, which was mired in limbo for 46 years as a result of various legal battles, is now the subject of a suit from producers including Alan Elliott, against distributor Neon and CEO Tom Quinn.
The crux of the issue also involves the Hollywood trade press, including Deadline, which covered the news that Neon had acquired the U.S rights to the film in December 2018. There was one small problem, the producers allege, it hadn’t signed a deal, and in fact, the producers were in talks with other buyers, including Apple, when Neon announced the deal.
The suit (read it here) alleges that Neon “fraudulently induced” the producers to accept a distribution deal by publicly announcing the pact.
“In a plan commandeered by Quinn, Neon acquired the coveted...
The film, which was mired in limbo for 46 years as a result of various legal battles, is now the subject of a suit from producers including Alan Elliott, against distributor Neon and CEO Tom Quinn.
The crux of the issue also involves the Hollywood trade press, including Deadline, which covered the news that Neon had acquired the U.S rights to the film in December 2018. There was one small problem, the producers allege, it hadn’t signed a deal, and in fact, the producers were in talks with other buyers, including Apple, when Neon announced the deal.
The suit (read it here) alleges that Neon “fraudulently induced” the producers to accept a distribution deal by publicly announcing the pact.
“In a plan commandeered by Quinn, Neon acquired the coveted...
- 8/11/2022
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Alexander Hamilton, who died Jan. 28 at age 77, was a conductor and arranger who was able to add “movie star” to his credits in the last years of his life. His work on Aretha Franklin’s 1972 “Amazing Grace” album — certified as the bestselling album of her career — was heard by millions over a period of almost five decades before Franklin fans actually got to see as well as hear Hamilton’s handiwork as the arranger and conductor of that music. When the film rendering of that recording finally came out in 2018, Hamilton loomed as nearly as large a personality on-screen as its ostensible stars, James Cleveland and Franklin herself.
The producer of the “Amazing Grace” film, Alan Elliott, shares his memories of Hamilton with Variety.
Until the discovery of the film of “Amazing Grace,” the genius of the work of Alexander Hamilton was not as well known as it is now.
The producer of the “Amazing Grace” film, Alan Elliott, shares his memories of Hamilton with Variety.
Until the discovery of the film of “Amazing Grace,” the genius of the work of Alexander Hamilton was not as well known as it is now.
- 2/6/2022
- by Alan Elliott
- Variety Film + TV
The onslaught of best-of-the-year lists from guilds and critics groups have only just begun, but one of the few of genuine interest each year comes from a single person: the wonderfully eccentric director John Waters, whose eclectic tastes always includes a mix of the unexpected and underseen.
Topping his list this year is Gaspar Noé’s drug-fueled dance freak-out Climax. Also on his list is Bruno Dumont’s sequel to Waters’ #1 film of 2017, Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc, as well as the latest films from Quentin Tarantino and Pedro Almodóvar. As he already revealed, his love for Joker is present as is Penny Lane’s documentary on the Satanic Temple and Fatih Akin’s virtually universally reviled serial killer drama The Golden Glove. Curiously, the enchanting off-kilter fairy tale Border made the list, even though it came out last year.
Check out the list below courtesy of Art Forum,...
Topping his list this year is Gaspar Noé’s drug-fueled dance freak-out Climax. Also on his list is Bruno Dumont’s sequel to Waters’ #1 film of 2017, Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc, as well as the latest films from Quentin Tarantino and Pedro Almodóvar. As he already revealed, his love for Joker is present as is Penny Lane’s documentary on the Satanic Temple and Fatih Akin’s virtually universally reviled serial killer drama The Golden Glove. Curiously, the enchanting off-kilter fairy tale Border made the list, even though it came out last year.
Check out the list below courtesy of Art Forum,...
- 12/1/2019
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The Aretha Franklin documentary “Amazing Grace” will be going out on tour this fall and winter, as part of a 22-state road show that will offer free screenings of the film as a centerpiece of multi-day voter registration events being sponsored by the Poor People’s Campaign, a historic civil rights organization that Franklin supported since it was founded by Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1960s.
The tour is set to be officially announced Monday at a press conference prior to a showing of “Amazing Grace” at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Among those participating in the D.C. kickoff event are “Grace” producer Alan Elliott, TV host Joy Reid, gospel singer Richard Smallwood, the current head of the Poor People’s Campaign, the Rev. William J. Barber, and another civil rights activist, Rev. Liz Theoharris. All but Smallwood are expected to take part in the tour in coming months,...
The tour is set to be officially announced Monday at a press conference prior to a showing of “Amazing Grace” at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Among those participating in the D.C. kickoff event are “Grace” producer Alan Elliott, TV host Joy Reid, gospel singer Richard Smallwood, the current head of the Poor People’s Campaign, the Rev. William J. Barber, and another civil rights activist, Rev. Liz Theoharris. All but Smallwood are expected to take part in the tour in coming months,...
- 9/8/2019
- by Chris Willman
- Variety Film + TV
The 8,750-feet-elevation hills were alive with the sound of music at the Telluride Film Festival. When it came to tuneage, it was as if Telluride almost wanted to give the heavily music-focused South by Southwest Film Festival a run for its mellifluous money this year.
The 46th annual gathering of the cineastes kicked off with Renee Zellweger singing nearly a full concert’s worth of material, and well, as part of her Judy Garland biopic, “Judy”; offered the Weeknd playing himself, briefly but hilariously, in a crime drama, “Uncut Gems”; gave the world multiple versions of a strong new Thom Yorke song, with Edward Norton’s noir-ish “Motherless Brooklyn” as the jazzy delivery system; and unveiled a slate of fall music documentaries on Billie Holiday, Linda Ronstadt, Johnny Cash and “Country Music” itself.
And, oh yes, there was another music doc not quite so fresh out of the editing bay:...
The 46th annual gathering of the cineastes kicked off with Renee Zellweger singing nearly a full concert’s worth of material, and well, as part of her Judy Garland biopic, “Judy”; offered the Weeknd playing himself, briefly but hilariously, in a crime drama, “Uncut Gems”; gave the world multiple versions of a strong new Thom Yorke song, with Edward Norton’s noir-ish “Motherless Brooklyn” as the jazzy delivery system; and unveiled a slate of fall music documentaries on Billie Holiday, Linda Ronstadt, Johnny Cash and “Country Music” itself.
And, oh yes, there was another music doc not quite so fresh out of the editing bay:...
- 9/4/2019
- by Chris Willman
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Joyous Aretha Franklin music doc Amazing Grace has sold around the world for Endeavor Content.
The stirring Doc NYC and Berlin Film Festival title charts the Queen of Soul’s brilliant 1972 performance at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles. Neon released the film in U.S.
Deals have closed with Metropolitan in France, Weltkino in Germany, You Planet and Caramel Films for Spain, NonStop Entertainment in Scandinavia, Iceland and Baltic States, Paradiso in Benelux, Alambique in Portugal, Seven Films in Greece, and Salim Ramia in the Middle East.
The film has also landed with Edko in Hong Kong, Shaw in Singapore, Jinjin in South Korea, Movie Cloud in Taiwan, Spi International in Eastern Europe, Bulgaria, Former Yugoslavia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Turkey and Czech, and Captive for airlines.
Neon released stateside on April 5 and StudioCanal released in the UK on May 10 and will launch Australia/Nz later this year.
The stirring Doc NYC and Berlin Film Festival title charts the Queen of Soul’s brilliant 1972 performance at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles. Neon released the film in U.S.
Deals have closed with Metropolitan in France, Weltkino in Germany, You Planet and Caramel Films for Spain, NonStop Entertainment in Scandinavia, Iceland and Baltic States, Paradiso in Benelux, Alambique in Portugal, Seven Films in Greece, and Salim Ramia in the Middle East.
The film has also landed with Edko in Hong Kong, Shaw in Singapore, Jinjin in South Korea, Movie Cloud in Taiwan, Spi International in Eastern Europe, Bulgaria, Former Yugoslavia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Turkey and Czech, and Captive for airlines.
Neon released stateside on April 5 and StudioCanal released in the UK on May 10 and will launch Australia/Nz later this year.
- 5/17/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
’Avengers: Endgame’ aims to hold top spot for third week.
Warner Bros’ Pokémon Detective Pikachu faces a daunting task in trying to wrest the box office crown from Avengers: Endgame this weekend.
The feature is the latest instalment in the popular Japanese franchise, with Ryan Reynolds lending his voice and motion-captured face to the small rodent-like creature with powerful electrical abilities. It is the first Pokémon film to mix animation with live action.
In this story, a former Pokémon trainer Tim Goodman (Justice Smith) finds a talking Pikachu that once belong to his father, and wants to be a detective.
Warner Bros’ Pokémon Detective Pikachu faces a daunting task in trying to wrest the box office crown from Avengers: Endgame this weekend.
The feature is the latest instalment in the popular Japanese franchise, with Ryan Reynolds lending his voice and motion-captured face to the small rodent-like creature with powerful electrical abilities. It is the first Pokémon film to mix animation with live action.
In this story, a former Pokémon trainer Tim Goodman (Justice Smith) finds a talking Pikachu that once belong to his father, and wants to be a detective.
- 5/10/2019
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
This documentary, shot during recording sessions by the charismatic queen of soul in a Los Angeles church, is a transcendent joy
There’s an oceanic swell of euphoria and joy in this extraordinary film, effectively a rediscovered concert movie showing the creation of Aretha Franklin’s gospel LP, Amazing Grace, recorded over two nights in 1972 in front of a live congregation and accompanied by the Southern California Community Choir. The concert was at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles, the interior being dominated by a vivid fresco of Christ’s baptism, a painting that by now might have almost pop-art status.
Sydney Pollack shot the original footage but the project had to be abandoned because sound and vision had not been properly synchronised. Only decades later has digital technology permitted this match-up to be achieved under the supervision of Alan Elliott.
There’s an oceanic swell of euphoria and joy in this extraordinary film, effectively a rediscovered concert movie showing the creation of Aretha Franklin’s gospel LP, Amazing Grace, recorded over two nights in 1972 in front of a live congregation and accompanied by the Southern California Community Choir. The concert was at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles, the interior being dominated by a vivid fresco of Christ’s baptism, a painting that by now might have almost pop-art status.
Sydney Pollack shot the original footage but the project had to be abandoned because sound and vision had not been properly synchronised. Only decades later has digital technology permitted this match-up to be achieved under the supervision of Alan Elliott.
- 5/10/2019
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Tirrell Whittley and Alan Elliott are two film producers for Amazing Grace, a new documentary film about late soul singer Aretha Franklin. The pair talked to uInterview exclusively about the film, which portrays Franklin’s time with the choir at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles in January 1972. “In 1972, they were looking for different ways at the […]
The post Video Exclusive: Tirrell Whittley & Alan Elliott On Aretha Franklin Concert Film ‘Amazing Grace’ appeared first on uInterview.
The post Video Exclusive: Tirrell Whittley & Alan Elliott On Aretha Franklin Concert Film ‘Amazing Grace’ appeared first on uInterview.
- 4/19/2019
- by Pablo Mena
- Uinterview
It took nearly 50 years for “Amazing Grace” to land in theaters, but one aspect of its journey appears unfinished. Variety reports that Chiemi Karasawa has filed an arbitration case against Alan Elliott for what she says is unpaid work on the Aretha Franklin documentary. “I have not been paid a dime of my Producer Fee or the amounts that I am entitled to contractually,” she told Variety. “I’m saddened that it’s come to this point, but thrilled that the film is being released for a public audience where it belongs.”
Aspects of her account are backed up by several collaborators. “Chiemi really made everything happen,” Charles Hobson, who produces documentaries and introduced Karasawa to Elliott, said. “I know she got the production house in L.A. She deserves a lot of the credit.” Stephanie Apt, president of Final Cut in New York, confirmed that Karasawa hired Jeff Buchanan...
Aspects of her account are backed up by several collaborators. “Chiemi really made everything happen,” Charles Hobson, who produces documentaries and introduced Karasawa to Elliott, said. “I know she got the production house in L.A. She deserves a lot of the credit.” Stephanie Apt, president of Final Cut in New York, confirmed that Karasawa hired Jeff Buchanan...
- 4/8/2019
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
After 47 years, the Aretha Franklin concert documentary “Amazing Grace” finally arrives in theaters Friday. Alan Elliott has told the story of how he rescued the unreleased footage from the Warner Bros. vault, had it restored and assembled, and then spent years negotiating with Franklin and her estate to secure the film’s release.
But absent from that story is producer Chiemi Karasawa, who alleges that she played a critical role in bringing the film to screen and has not been paid for her work.
Karasawa recently filed an arbitration case against Elliott, alleging that she is owed a producer fee and other compensation for years of work on the project. Among other things, she says she arranged to retrieve the footage and process it, oversaw the editing of the film, and set up screenings for industry figures that ultimately led to its theatrical release.
“I have not been paid a...
But absent from that story is producer Chiemi Karasawa, who alleges that she played a critical role in bringing the film to screen and has not been paid for her work.
Karasawa recently filed an arbitration case against Elliott, alleging that she is owed a producer fee and other compensation for years of work on the project. Among other things, she says she arranged to retrieve the footage and process it, oversaw the editing of the film, and set up screenings for industry figures that ultimately led to its theatrical release.
“I have not been paid a...
- 4/5/2019
- by Gene Maddaus
- Variety Film + TV
Forty-seven years ago, in 1972, when Sydney Pollack filmed Aretha Franklin recording her Amazing Grace album, he did not use clapper boards. Franklin, then 29, had recently released Spirit in the Dark (1970) and Young, Gifted and Black (1972), and decided to record Amazing Grace probably because some of her critics believed that she had started straying from her gospel roots. Daughter of Baptist minister C.L. Franklin, Ms. Franklin not only decided to record an album of gospel songs that she had grown up singing, but also decided to record it in Los Angeles’ New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in front of a live audience, thereby proving that her roots were intact and nourishing one of the most magnificent musical geniuses our times have known. Franklin’s co-producer, Jerry Wexler, had arranged for Warner Bros. to film the recording and had signed up Sydney Pollack to film the proceedings. At the end of shooting...
- 4/5/2019
- MUBI
Celebrated French filmmaker Claire Denis will have her English-language feature debut with High Life, starring Robert Pattinson and Juliette Binoche, opening this weekend via A24. Specialty distributors continue to ramp up spring releases, though with a somewhat less-packed slate of newcomers compared with last weekend. Nearly five decades after its recording, Aretha Franklin concert documentary Amazing Grace begins a regular theatrical run via Neon, which picked up the title in December. Amazon Studios is launching multiple-Oscar-nominated British director Mike Leigh’s historical epic Peterloo in select New York and L.A. locations. Greenwich Entertainment, meanwhile, is heading out with Emilio Estevez-directed drama The Public, with Jena Malone, Gabrielle Union, Alec Baldwin, Christian Slater and Estevez.
Also launching in limited release is IFC Films’ horror Western The Wind, in addition to Good Deed drama Storm Boy at AMC Empire in New York and AMC CityWalk in L.A. along with other major cities.
Also launching in limited release is IFC Films’ horror Western The Wind, in addition to Good Deed drama Storm Boy at AMC Empire in New York and AMC CityWalk in L.A. along with other major cities.
- 4/5/2019
- by Brian Brooks
- Deadline Film + TV
Aretha Franklin was at the peak of her career and her creative powers when her gospel album “Amazing Grace” was released in 1972. (It sold more than two million copies and became her best-selling record.) Director Sydney Pollack was hired by Warner Brothers to make a film of Franklin’s recording session for this album at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, but Pollack didn’t use a clapperboard to synchronize picture and sound at the beginning of each take, and so he was unable to complete the movie, which sat in storage for 38 years.
The footage was handed over to producer Alan Elliott in 2008, and Elliott managed to salvage the project, but then Franklin sued him and prevented him from showing the movie at various film festivals. After Franklin’s death this year, Elliott was given the go-ahead by her estate to finally show “Amazing Grace” in theaters,...
The footage was handed over to producer Alan Elliott in 2008, and Elliott managed to salvage the project, but then Franklin sued him and prevented him from showing the movie at various film festivals. After Franklin’s death this year, Elliott was given the go-ahead by her estate to finally show “Amazing Grace” in theaters,...
- 4/3/2019
- by Dan Callahan
- The Wrap
It’s the closest thing to witnessing a miracle — just some cameras, a crowd and a voice touched by God. Over two days in January of 1972, Aretha Franklin got up to sing out her gospel at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts, backed by the Southern California Community Choir. A film crew was there to catch the Queen of Soul blow the roof off the place. Not to get closer to the Lord — surely He was already listening — but to testify to his glory with the black church...
- 4/2/2019
- by Peter Travers
- Rollingstone.com
Not many, if any, of the great music documentaries or concert films have ever screened in the exact location where they were shot: “Woodstock” did not show at Woodstock, and “Wattstax” did not premiere at the L.A. Coliseum, needless to say. But Sunday night, “Amazing Grace” had its official southern California premiere right where the recording of Aretha Franklin’s live gospel album and belated movie accompaniment went down in 1972: the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in South Los Angeles.
Although the word may not exactly fit with the African-American Christian tradition, the word “mecca” was used a lot Sunday, in connection with intentions to turn the church and its surrounding area into a site that will be recognized by the city of L.A. as a civic monument to Franklin.
“To all of you who are here as visitors, we want you to save your directions in Waze,...
Although the word may not exactly fit with the African-American Christian tradition, the word “mecca” was used a lot Sunday, in connection with intentions to turn the church and its surrounding area into a site that will be recognized by the city of L.A. as a civic monument to Franklin.
“To all of you who are here as visitors, we want you to save your directions in Waze,...
- 4/1/2019
- by Chris Willman
- Variety Film + TV
Aretha Franklin is going on tour — or, rather, the concert movie she stars in is, as “Amazing Grace” is being booked for a solid week’s worth of premieres across the country at the end of March, Variety has learned. Alan Elliott, the documentary’s producer, and prominent civil rights activist Rev. William J. Barber II will be taking the film to back-to-back premiere events at locations including the Smithsonian in Washington, the Martin Luther King Jr. Museum in Atlanta, the Civil Rights Museum in Alabama and, not least of all, the New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, where the late superstar’s father, C.L. Franklin, preached, and where she returned to sing up through her last years.
“Amazing Grace” will also have its official L.A. bow March 31 at a church, and not just any house of worship, but the New Missionary Temple Church, where the movie was filmed...
“Amazing Grace” will also have its official L.A. bow March 31 at a church, and not just any house of worship, but the New Missionary Temple Church, where the movie was filmed...
- 3/13/2019
- by Chris Willman
- Variety Film + TV
The official trailer for Aretha Franklin's upcoming documentary, Amazing Grace, is here, and you might want to have a box of tissues nearby for this one. The film centers around Franklin's unforgettable 1972 performance of "Amazing Grace" at the New Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles. The trailer features Franklin standing behind the pulpit as she begins to sing with remarkable authority and stage presence. Although Franklin was just 29 years old at the time, she was able to stir everyone in the congregation with her stunning vocals. The clips were shot by Sydney Pollack and compiled by Alan Elliott.
That same day at the church, the late and great Franklin also belted other songs, including "Mary, Don't You Weep" and "Climbing Higher Mountains." The show was then turned into the 1972 soundtrack Amazing Grace, which is still the best-selling live gospel album of all time. And up until recently, the footage of that performance was unreleased.
That same day at the church, the late and great Franklin also belted other songs, including "Mary, Don't You Weep" and "Climbing Higher Mountains." The show was then turned into the 1972 soundtrack Amazing Grace, which is still the best-selling live gospel album of all time. And up until recently, the footage of that performance was unreleased.
- 3/11/2019
- by Brea Cubit
- Popsugar.com
Studiocanal has released a trailer for the music documentary showcasing never-before-seen footage of the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin during the intimate recording of her iconic album ‘Amazing Grace’.
In 1971, Aretha Franklin, the undisputed Queen of Soul, brought producer Jerry Wexler, her backup singers, and the legendary Atlantic Records rhythm section to The New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Watts to record an album of gospel music before an enthusiastic live audience. The result, “Amazing Grace”, went on to become the top-selling gospel record of all time, the biggest album of Aretha Franklin’s career, and one of her most beloved works.
But even as the album gained fans around the world, few realized that those inspirational sessions had not only been recorded, they had been filmed by a camera crew led by Oscar-winning filmmaker Sydney Pollack.
Pollack and his team spent two nights capturing...
In 1971, Aretha Franklin, the undisputed Queen of Soul, brought producer Jerry Wexler, her backup singers, and the legendary Atlantic Records rhythm section to The New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Watts to record an album of gospel music before an enthusiastic live audience. The result, “Amazing Grace”, went on to become the top-selling gospel record of all time, the biggest album of Aretha Franklin’s career, and one of her most beloved works.
But even as the album gained fans around the world, few realized that those inspirational sessions had not only been recorded, they had been filmed by a camera crew led by Oscar-winning filmmaker Sydney Pollack.
Pollack and his team spent two nights capturing...
- 3/7/2019
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Nearly 50 years after it was filmed, the recording of what would be the most successful gospel album of all time has now seen the light of day. After touring festivals since last fall, Aretha Franklin’s Amazing Grace will finally see a release next month courtesy of Neon. Produced and realized by Alan Elliott, with uncredited direction by Sydney Pollack, the trailer and poster have now been unveiled.
John Fink said in his review, “A time capsule that’s as fresh and powerful an experience as it must have been when recorded live in Watts in 1972, Amazing Grace is arguably one of the year’s most-anticipated films arriving after years of litigation and a near-fatal technical glitch that was resolved thanks to digital workflows. Following the success of concert films like Woodstock and director Sydney Pollack’s They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? and The Way We Were, the young...
John Fink said in his review, “A time capsule that’s as fresh and powerful an experience as it must have been when recorded live in Watts in 1972, Amazing Grace is arguably one of the year’s most-anticipated films arriving after years of litigation and a near-fatal technical glitch that was resolved thanks to digital workflows. Following the success of concert films like Woodstock and director Sydney Pollack’s They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? and The Way We Were, the young...
- 3/6/2019
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
A new trailer for Amazing Grace, the long lost Aretha Franklin concert documentary set for an April 5 release by Neon, showcases the late singer delivering a stunning performance of the title song.
Filmed by Sydney Pollack in 1972 at the then-29-year-old Franklin’s concert in the New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts, the film was mired in legal technicalities for decades before getting screenings last year at Doc NYC and AFI Fest for Oscar-qualifying runs. Neon has now set the April 5 theatrical release in select theaters prior to expansion.
Neon acquired the North American rights in December. The film was produced by Alan Elliott, Joe Boyd, Chiemi Karasawa, Rob Johnson, Sabrina Owens, Tirrell D. Whittley, Jerry Wexler and Joseph Woolf.
In a December, Spike Lee hosted a private screening of the film in Los Angeles, calling Amazing Grace “One of the greatest concerts ever put to film. As we know,...
Filmed by Sydney Pollack in 1972 at the then-29-year-old Franklin’s concert in the New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts, the film was mired in legal technicalities for decades before getting screenings last year at Doc NYC and AFI Fest for Oscar-qualifying runs. Neon has now set the April 5 theatrical release in select theaters prior to expansion.
Neon acquired the North American rights in December. The film was produced by Alan Elliott, Joe Boyd, Chiemi Karasawa, Rob Johnson, Sabrina Owens, Tirrell D. Whittley, Jerry Wexler and Joseph Woolf.
In a December, Spike Lee hosted a private screening of the film in Los Angeles, calling Amazing Grace “One of the greatest concerts ever put to film. As we know,...
- 3/6/2019
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Aretha Franklin gets through barely the first two words of “Amazing Grace” before the audience in the Baptist Church she’s performing to are left stupefied.
You can see as she quietly and without fanfare steps up to a podium with a microphone and begins to sing that people are shaking their heads and rubbing their eyes in sheer disbelief at what they’re hearing and seeing, this angelic voice singing among the most spiritual of anthems.
The documentary “Amazing Grace” features footage — that due to legal issues was never before seen by the public — of Franklin recording her mega gospel album “Amazing Grace” live inside a church in South Los Angeles. Sydney Pollack captured the footage in 1972, and Alan Elliott realized the completed film.
Also Read: Nat Geo's 'Genius' Finds Showrunner for Aretha Franklin Season
The legendary Queen of Soul was just 29 when she recorded the album...
You can see as she quietly and without fanfare steps up to a podium with a microphone and begins to sing that people are shaking their heads and rubbing their eyes in sheer disbelief at what they’re hearing and seeing, this angelic voice singing among the most spiritual of anthems.
The documentary “Amazing Grace” features footage — that due to legal issues was never before seen by the public — of Franklin recording her mega gospel album “Amazing Grace” live inside a church in South Los Angeles. Sydney Pollack captured the footage in 1972, and Alan Elliott realized the completed film.
Also Read: Nat Geo's 'Genius' Finds Showrunner for Aretha Franklin Season
The legendary Queen of Soul was just 29 when she recorded the album...
- 3/6/2019
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
For Aretha Franklin fans across the world, the upcoming theatrical release of “Amazing Grace” is the year’s most important movie event. The concert documentary spent years being held up for legal reasons but is finally being rolled out in theaters next month following an awards-qualifying release in December.
“Amazing Grace” documents the making of Franklin’s gospel album of the same name, which she recorded live at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles during January 1972. The critically acclaimed album has sold over two million copies in the United States alone, making it the biggest seller of Franklin’s entire career and the best-selling gospel album in music history.
In his B+ review published last fall, IndieWire’s Eric Kohn hailed “Amazing Grace” as a “rousing portrait” of the soul singer. “As a record of the church music from Franklin’s youth, cascading off the walls of...
“Amazing Grace” documents the making of Franklin’s gospel album of the same name, which she recorded live at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles during January 1972. The critically acclaimed album has sold over two million copies in the United States alone, making it the biggest seller of Franklin’s entire career and the best-selling gospel album in music history.
In his B+ review published last fall, IndieWire’s Eric Kohn hailed “Amazing Grace” as a “rousing portrait” of the soul singer. “As a record of the church music from Franklin’s youth, cascading off the walls of...
- 3/6/2019
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Tony Sokol Mar 4, 2019
The Queen of Soul laid down a night of spiritual music for the Gospel classic Amazing Grace, now we can see the show.
Aretha Franklin wasn't only the Queen of Soul. She was part of a legendary legacy which raised racial consciousness through that old time religion. One of the most spiritual performers on stage, her voice and her piano were possessed of the gift of happy telepathy, even on the saddest of songs. Her live gospel album from 1972 Amazing Grace, revealed the holy spirit of soul music. It is the highest-selling gospel album of all time. The long-suppressed documentary the concert, Amazing Grace gets a nationwide release on April 5th, 2019.
Filmmaker Sydney Pollack caught Aretha performing the live album Amazing Grace. She played The New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles backed by the Reverend James Cleveland and the Southern California Community Choir, along with some Atlantic Records musicians,...
The Queen of Soul laid down a night of spiritual music for the Gospel classic Amazing Grace, now we can see the show.
Aretha Franklin wasn't only the Queen of Soul. She was part of a legendary legacy which raised racial consciousness through that old time religion. One of the most spiritual performers on stage, her voice and her piano were possessed of the gift of happy telepathy, even on the saddest of songs. Her live gospel album from 1972 Amazing Grace, revealed the holy spirit of soul music. It is the highest-selling gospel album of all time. The long-suppressed documentary the concert, Amazing Grace gets a nationwide release on April 5th, 2019.
Filmmaker Sydney Pollack caught Aretha performing the live album Amazing Grace. She played The New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles backed by the Reverend James Cleveland and the Southern California Community Choir, along with some Atlantic Records musicians,...
- 3/5/2019
- Den of Geek
Studiocanal takes UK, Australia and New Zealand; Endeavor also inks Japan and Israel.
Ahead of the film’s European premiere at the Berlinale, Aretha Franklin documentary Amazing Grace has been picked up by Studiocanal for the UK and Australia / New Zealand.
Worldwide sales representative Endeavor Content has also sold Japan to Gaga and Israel to United King.
Neon previously picked up North American rights to the concert film, which has taken 47 years to be completed.
It depicts the 1972 concert when Franklin performed with James Cleveland & The Southern California Community Choir at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles.
Ahead of the film’s European premiere at the Berlinale, Aretha Franklin documentary Amazing Grace has been picked up by Studiocanal for the UK and Australia / New Zealand.
Worldwide sales representative Endeavor Content has also sold Japan to Gaga and Israel to United King.
Neon previously picked up North American rights to the concert film, which has taken 47 years to be completed.
It depicts the 1972 concert when Franklin performed with James Cleveland & The Southern California Community Choir at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles.
- 2/12/2019
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
Five new titles, including the latest films from Zhang Yimou and Andre Techine, have joined the official selection of this year’s Berlin Film Festival. Adam McKay’s “Vice” has also been added, but will screen out of competition.
“Vice” has already won a Golden Globe for star Christian Bale’s portrayal of former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and picked up six BAFTA nominations last week, including for Bale, supporting actor Sam Rockwell and supporting actress Amy Adams. The festival screening will mark its German premiere.
The new additions to the main competition lineup include the world premieres of Zhang’s “One Second” and Nadav Lapid’s “Synonyms.” Techine’s “Farewell to the Night,” which stars Catherine Deneuve, also receives its world premiere at the Berlinale but will play out of competition. Alan Elliott’s documentary “Amazing Grace,” about Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin, will screen out of competition as well,...
“Vice” has already won a Golden Globe for star Christian Bale’s portrayal of former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and picked up six BAFTA nominations last week, including for Bale, supporting actor Sam Rockwell and supporting actress Amy Adams. The festival screening will mark its German premiere.
The new additions to the main competition lineup include the world premieres of Zhang’s “One Second” and Nadav Lapid’s “Synonyms.” Techine’s “Farewell to the Night,” which stars Catherine Deneuve, also receives its world premiere at the Berlinale but will play out of competition. Alan Elliott’s documentary “Amazing Grace,” about Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin, will screen out of competition as well,...
- 1/17/2019
- by Robert Mitchell
- Variety Film + TV
Films by Zhang Yimou and André Téchiné will have world premieres in Berlin.
The final titles for the Berlin International Film Festival Competition and Berlianle Special sections have been announced.
The new competition additions are world premieres of Zhang Yimou’s One Second, André Téchiné’s Farewell To The Night, Nadav Lapid’s Synonyms, the German premiere of Vice, and the European premiere of Aretha Franklin documentary Amazing Grace.
Of the new titles, Farewell To The Night, Alan Elliott’s Amazing Grace and Vice will play out of competition. 17 of the 23 films in the Competition section will be in contention...
The final titles for the Berlin International Film Festival Competition and Berlianle Special sections have been announced.
The new competition additions are world premieres of Zhang Yimou’s One Second, André Téchiné’s Farewell To The Night, Nadav Lapid’s Synonyms, the German premiere of Vice, and the European premiere of Aretha Franklin documentary Amazing Grace.
Of the new titles, Farewell To The Night, Alan Elliott’s Amazing Grace and Vice will play out of competition. 17 of the 23 films in the Competition section will be in contention...
- 1/17/2019
- by Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
A time capsule that’s as fresh and powerful an experience as it must have been when recorded live in Watts in 1972, Amazing Grace is arguably one of the year’s most-anticipated films arriving after years of litigation and a near-fatal technical glitch that was resolved thanks to digital workflows. Following the success of concert films like Woodstock and director Sydney Pollack’s They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? and The Way We Were, the young director was retained by Warner Brothers to shoot the recording of Aretha Franklin’s landmark album. The singer, after a string of successful singles, decided to return to her roots singling gospel in church accompanied by the Southern California Gospel Choir and the Reverend James Cleveland.
The album would go on to sell two million copies and achieve double platinum certification, and while its jacket advertised an upcoming motion picture, the film sat in the vaults of Warner Brothers.
The album would go on to sell two million copies and achieve double platinum certification, and while its jacket advertised an upcoming motion picture, the film sat in the vaults of Warner Brothers.
- 12/16/2018
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
An epic concert from nearly a half-century ago, sports documentaries that break the mold, a look at the American Midwest, a document of a film that never was — these were just a few of the subjects and stories that this year’s documentary offerings brought us. With 2018 wrapping up, we’ve selected 16 features in the field that left us most impressed, so check out our list below and, in the comments, let us know your favorites.
Amazing Grace (Sydney Pollack)
A time capsule that’s as fresh and powerful an experience as it must have been when recorded live in Watts in 1972, Amazing Grace is arguably one of the year’s most-anticipated films arriving after years of litigation and a fetal technical glitch that was finally resolved thanks to digital workflows and persistence. What remains is a powerful and captivating performance by the great Aretha Franklin as she opts to...
Amazing Grace (Sydney Pollack)
A time capsule that’s as fresh and powerful an experience as it must have been when recorded live in Watts in 1972, Amazing Grace is arguably one of the year’s most-anticipated films arriving after years of litigation and a fetal technical glitch that was finally resolved thanks to digital workflows and persistence. What remains is a powerful and captivating performance by the great Aretha Franklin as she opts to...
- 12/13/2018
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Producer Alan Elliott has been nothing if not dogged in his pursuit of finishing and releasing Sydney Pollack’s 1972 documentary “Amazing Grace.” But until now he has not told the whole story about some of the wrangling that went on behind the scenes in order to get the movie made.
Back in 1972, a year after their massive hit “Woodstock,” Warner Bros. exec Ted Ashley set out to produce another music documentary with the help of Pink Floyd producer Joe Boyd, director of music services at Warner Bros. So Boyd set out to find someone to shoot the Aretha Franklin concert movie in Watts, which required someone who understood how to shoot multiple cameras with sync sound.
Boyd wanted to hire James Signorelli as his director of photography, who shot “Super Fly” and went on to shoot the first 35 years of commercials for “Saturday Night Live,” until Ashley talked up the...
Back in 1972, a year after their massive hit “Woodstock,” Warner Bros. exec Ted Ashley set out to produce another music documentary with the help of Pink Floyd producer Joe Boyd, director of music services at Warner Bros. So Boyd set out to find someone to shoot the Aretha Franklin concert movie in Watts, which required someone who understood how to shoot multiple cameras with sync sound.
Boyd wanted to hire James Signorelli as his director of photography, who shot “Super Fly” and went on to shoot the first 35 years of commercials for “Saturday Night Live,” until Ashley talked up the...
- 12/11/2018
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Producer Alan Elliott has been nothing if not dogged in his pursuit of finishing and releasing Sydney Pollack’s 1972 documentary “Amazing Grace.” But until now he has not told the whole story about some of the wrangling that went on behind the scenes in order to get the movie made.
Back in 1972, a year after their massive hit “Woodstock,” Warner Bros. exec Ted Ashley set out to produce another music documentary with the help of Pink Floyd producer Joe Boyd, director of music services at Warner Bros. So Boyd set out to find someone to shoot the Aretha Franklin concert movie in Watts, which required someone who understood how to shoot multiple cameras with sync sound.
Boyd wanted to hire James Signorelli as his director of photography, who shot “Super Fly” and went on to shoot the first 35 years of commercials for “Saturday Night Live,” until Ashley talked up the...
Back in 1972, a year after their massive hit “Woodstock,” Warner Bros. exec Ted Ashley set out to produce another music documentary with the help of Pink Floyd producer Joe Boyd, director of music services at Warner Bros. So Boyd set out to find someone to shoot the Aretha Franklin concert movie in Watts, which required someone who understood how to shoot multiple cameras with sync sound.
Boyd wanted to hire James Signorelli as his director of photography, who shot “Super Fly” and went on to shoot the first 35 years of commercials for “Saturday Night Live,” until Ashley talked up the...
- 12/11/2018
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
A late entrant into the Oscar documentary race could prove a formidable contender.
Amazing Grace, which documents the live recording of Aretha Franklin’s gospel album in 1972, had been mired in technical and legal limbo for 46 years before its dramatic and unexpected debut at the Doc NYC festival last month. Since then it has rapidly picked up steam with a last-minute Oscar-qualifying run in New York and La theaters, earning a rapturous response from a legion of admirers—Spike Lee among them.
“One of the greatest concerts ever put to film,” declares Lee, who hosted a private screening in La on Friday night, adding “As we know, Aretha is one of the world’s treasures—not just the United States of America, but the world’s treasures.”
There is ample evidence to support that opinion in the footage, which was originally filmed by director Sydney Pollack over two nights at...
Amazing Grace, which documents the live recording of Aretha Franklin’s gospel album in 1972, had been mired in technical and legal limbo for 46 years before its dramatic and unexpected debut at the Doc NYC festival last month. Since then it has rapidly picked up steam with a last-minute Oscar-qualifying run in New York and La theaters, earning a rapturous response from a legion of admirers—Spike Lee among them.
“One of the greatest concerts ever put to film,” declares Lee, who hosted a private screening in La on Friday night, adding “As we know, Aretha is one of the world’s treasures—not just the United States of America, but the world’s treasures.”
There is ample evidence to support that opinion in the footage, which was originally filmed by director Sydney Pollack over two nights at...
- 12/10/2018
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Aretha Franklin documentary “Amazing Grace” will set a one-week record for New York’s Film Forum, where it opened December 7 — the same day that Neon announced that the company acquired it for distribution.
The box-office calculation is based on sold-out shows and advance sales through December 13, when it’s on track to make at least $75,000. The previous best at the lower Manhattan location was “I Am Not Your Negro” two years ago, which took in $73,000 for its first seven days. That film went on to a Best Documentary Oscar nomination and to an extraordinary over $7 million nationwide. This looks potentially to be even bigger: The estimated gross for Friday is $12,000, which projects to an opening weekend of at least $40,000.
Film Forum’s one-week locked-in “Amazing Grace” booking is playing for the awards qualifying process, and seeking strong reviews ahead of Tuesday’s deadline for Academy members to vote on potential nominees for Best Feature Documentary.
The box-office calculation is based on sold-out shows and advance sales through December 13, when it’s on track to make at least $75,000. The previous best at the lower Manhattan location was “I Am Not Your Negro” two years ago, which took in $73,000 for its first seven days. That film went on to a Best Documentary Oscar nomination and to an extraordinary over $7 million nationwide. This looks potentially to be even bigger: The estimated gross for Friday is $12,000, which projects to an opening weekend of at least $40,000.
Film Forum’s one-week locked-in “Amazing Grace” booking is playing for the awards qualifying process, and seeking strong reviews ahead of Tuesday’s deadline for Academy members to vote on potential nominees for Best Feature Documentary.
- 12/9/2018
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
The long-shelved Aretha Franklin concert film Amazing Grace will receive a nationwide release in early 2019. Following the Queen of Soul’s death in August, the 1972 film was finally unveiled at the Doc NYC festival ahead its Oscar-qualifying run in Los Angeles and New York.
Franklin’s estate and film distributor Neon announced an agreement for the North American release of Amazing Grace, which captures the then-29-year-old Franklin teaming with the choir at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles.
“Amazing Grace is the heart and soul of Aretha Franklin,...
Franklin’s estate and film distributor Neon announced an agreement for the North American release of Amazing Grace, which captures the then-29-year-old Franklin teaming with the choir at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles.
“Amazing Grace is the heart and soul of Aretha Franklin,...
- 12/8/2018
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Neon has acquired the North American rights to “Amazing Grace,” the Aretha Franklin documentary film that made its world premiere at Doc NYC and then screened at the AFI Film Festival in November, the distributor announced.
The company is planning a March 2019 theatrical release, and it has already opened in New York and Los Angeles for an Oscar-qualifying run.
Directed by the late Sydney Pollack and produced by Alan Elliott, the 1972 concert film presents Aretha Franklin with a choir at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts back when the legendary queen of soul was 29 years old and at the peak of her vocal powers.
The late soul singer previously brought legal action against the film in 2015, successfully blocking it from screening at several film festivals and arguing that the concert footage couldn...
The company is planning a March 2019 theatrical release, and it has already opened in New York and Los Angeles for an Oscar-qualifying run.
Directed by the late Sydney Pollack and produced by Alan Elliott, the 1972 concert film presents Aretha Franklin with a choir at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts back when the legendary queen of soul was 29 years old and at the peak of her vocal powers.
The late soul singer previously brought legal action against the film in 2015, successfully blocking it from screening at several film festivals and arguing that the concert footage couldn...
- 12/7/2018
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Late singer’s estate rep and niece says, ’This film is authentic and is my aunt to her core.’
After decades of delays and an eleventh-hour intervention by the late singer herself, Us viewers will finally get the chance to see the Aretha Franklin concert doc Amazing Grace in theatres. Neon announced on Friday (7) it had picked up North American rights and has set an Oscar-qualifying run in New York and Los Angeles
Amazing Grace premiered at Doc NYC and went on to play AFI Fest. Neon, who launched awards contender and box office hit Three Identical Strangers earlier in...
After decades of delays and an eleventh-hour intervention by the late singer herself, Us viewers will finally get the chance to see the Aretha Franklin concert doc Amazing Grace in theatres. Neon announced on Friday (7) it had picked up North American rights and has set an Oscar-qualifying run in New York and Los Angeles
Amazing Grace premiered at Doc NYC and went on to play AFI Fest. Neon, who launched awards contender and box office hit Three Identical Strangers earlier in...
- 12/7/2018
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Neon has acquired the North American rights to the Aretha Franklin documentary “Amazing Grace,” a month after the movie premiered at Doc NYC.
Neon said it’s planning an early 2019 theatrical release.
The film, shot in 1972 by Sydney Pollack at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, was originally planned by Warner Bros. Pictures as a companion documentary to the double live album “Amazing Grace,” which became Franklin’s best-selling album, but technical issues prevented the release of the pic.
Producer Alan Elliott acquired the movie rights in 2007 and worked with a team of producers, including Joe Boyd, Robert Johnson, Chiemi Karasawa, Sabrina Owens, Jerry Wexler, Tirrell D. Whittley, and Joseph Woolf. Franklin, who died in August, went to court repeatedly to stop its release. “Amazing Grace” is being launched with the support of Franklin’s estate.
The movie includes an 11-minute version of “Amazing Grace,” “Mary Don’t You Weep,...
Neon said it’s planning an early 2019 theatrical release.
The film, shot in 1972 by Sydney Pollack at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, was originally planned by Warner Bros. Pictures as a companion documentary to the double live album “Amazing Grace,” which became Franklin’s best-selling album, but technical issues prevented the release of the pic.
Producer Alan Elliott acquired the movie rights in 2007 and worked with a team of producers, including Joe Boyd, Robert Johnson, Chiemi Karasawa, Sabrina Owens, Jerry Wexler, Tirrell D. Whittley, and Joseph Woolf. Franklin, who died in August, went to court repeatedly to stop its release. “Amazing Grace” is being launched with the support of Franklin’s estate.
The movie includes an 11-minute version of “Amazing Grace,” “Mary Don’t You Weep,...
- 12/7/2018
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Boutique Neon has picked up the North American rights to “Amazing Grace,” the long-delayed concert documentary that follows Aretha Franklin during a seminal 1972 show. The film had its world premiere at Doc NYC and also screened at AFI Fest. Neon will release the film theatrically in 2019, although it has already received an Oscar-qualifying run in New York and Los Angeles.
Per its official synopsis, the long-awaited documentary has now been “realized by Alan Elliott” and “presents Aretha Franklin with choir at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts, when the legendary queen of soul was 29 years-old and at the peak of her vocal powers. Elliott produced alongside Joe Boyd, Chiemi Karasawa, Rob Johnson, Sabrina Owens, Tirrell D. Whittley, Jerry Wexler and Joseph Woolf.” A young Sydney Pollack was hired to direct the project, though it remained unfinished for decades.
As IndieWire’s Anne Thompson wrote earlier this year, “Pollack captured...
Per its official synopsis, the long-awaited documentary has now been “realized by Alan Elliott” and “presents Aretha Franklin with choir at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts, when the legendary queen of soul was 29 years-old and at the peak of her vocal powers. Elliott produced alongside Joe Boyd, Chiemi Karasawa, Rob Johnson, Sabrina Owens, Tirrell D. Whittley, Jerry Wexler and Joseph Woolf.” A young Sydney Pollack was hired to direct the project, though it remained unfinished for decades.
As IndieWire’s Anne Thompson wrote earlier this year, “Pollack captured...
- 12/7/2018
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Neon has acquired North American rights to Amazing Grace, the Aretha Franklin concert film that has taken 45 years to get to a big screen. The 1972 concert documentary, shot by Sydney Pollack, chronicles Franklin’s famed performance with the choir at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts when she was 29, which became the genesis of the biggest-selling gospel album of all time. It has been mired in legal technicalities ever since.
The pic finally had its world premiere at Doc NYC and then screened at AFI Fest as part of an Oscar-qualifying run that began last month in L.A. It continues that run beginning today in New York at the Film Forum. Neon is now planning an early 2019 theatrical release.
Alan Elliott produced alongside Joe Boyd, Chiemi Karasawa, Rob Johnson, Sabrina Owens, Tirrell D. Whittley, Jerry Wexler and Joseph Woolf.
“Amazing Grace is the heart and soul of Aretha Franklin,...
The pic finally had its world premiere at Doc NYC and then screened at AFI Fest as part of an Oscar-qualifying run that began last month in L.A. It continues that run beginning today in New York at the Film Forum. Neon is now planning an early 2019 theatrical release.
Alan Elliott produced alongside Joe Boyd, Chiemi Karasawa, Rob Johnson, Sabrina Owens, Tirrell D. Whittley, Jerry Wexler and Joseph Woolf.
“Amazing Grace is the heart and soul of Aretha Franklin,...
- 12/7/2018
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
A bit of a miracle has crashed this awards season, one that has been 46 years in the making, after managing to qualify for an Oscar run with just minutes to spare in October. “Amazing Grace” is an infamous documentary that is a companion to Aretha Franklin’s same-titled, biggest-selling album – a Grammy winner with more than 2 million copies sold — that was recorded at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles over two days in January 1972. The film, directed by Sydney Pollack, was kept in a vault by Warner Bros. when sound syncing problems prevented its release. But even when those flaws were erased thanks to digital technology,the Queen of Soul herself refused to allow the doc to see the light of day.
That is, until now. Producer Alan Elliott, who bought the rights to the footage that captures the then-29-year-old performer wailing the gospel music of...
That is, until now. Producer Alan Elliott, who bought the rights to the footage that captures the then-29-year-old performer wailing the gospel music of...
- 12/7/2018
- by Susan Wloszczyna
- Gold Derby
Any kind of film that’s been lost to the ages fascinates me. There are a few notorious ones, though most ultimately see the light of day before all is said and done. Up until recently, the 1972 concert documentary about Aretha Franklin, Amazing Grace, was thought to be under lock and key. Franklin’s death led directly to its upcoming release, as you’ll see below, so there’s a tinge of tragedy surrounding the fact that we’re finally seeing it. Beyond that, though, there’s the joy at getting to watch a legend in her element, one last time. It begins screening this week for its Oscar qualifying run, before a wider berth next week, and it will likely bring in quite a crowd. This documentary is a filmed concert, essentially. Shot by director Sydney Pollack in 1972, it sees Aretha Franklin record her gospel album in a church,...
- 11/27/2018
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
The audience that witnessed Doc NYC’s Monday world premiere of the moving and soulful Aretha Franklin church concert doc “Amazing Grace,” captured on film by Sydney Pollack in 1972, was fortunate indeed. But for actress Gina Gershon and the late Queen of Soul’s nephew Vaughn Franklin, the screening at Manhattan’s Sva Theatre was something far more profound: a family celebration.
“When all of her siblings passed away back-to-back — our aunt Erma, and nine weeks later, my father [in 2002], she stepped in and became our surrogate mother, our rock and our foundation,” said Franklin, who attended the premiere with Sabrina Owens (Aretha’s niece and the film’s exec producer) and two other relatives. “She helped us mourn and get over our grief, so whenever I can see her now, it feels like she’s reaching out to me and telling me certain things in her music. We’re still...
“When all of her siblings passed away back-to-back — our aunt Erma, and nine weeks later, my father [in 2002], she stepped in and became our surrogate mother, our rock and our foundation,” said Franklin, who attended the premiere with Sabrina Owens (Aretha’s niece and the film’s exec producer) and two other relatives. “She helped us mourn and get over our grief, so whenever I can see her now, it feels like she’s reaching out to me and telling me certain things in her music. We’re still...
- 11/14/2018
- by Gregg Goldstein
- Variety Film + TV
In 1990, Alan Elliott was a newly hired A&R man at Atlantic Records when he took a get-acquainted meeting with one of the label’s Mount Rushmore figures, producer Jerry Wexler. Wexler’s days with Aretha Franklin soon came up. “He said to me, ‘You heard Amazing Grace, right?’” recalls Elliott, referring to Franklin’s seminal 1972 gospel album. “I said it was my favorite record. He was a gruff fella, and he said, ‘We filmed it. We made the record and the film company made the film but fucked it up.
- 11/14/2018
- by David Browne
- Rollingstone.com
AFI Fest has added a screening of the Aretha Franklin documentary “Amazing Grace” on Nov. 15 at the Tcl Chinese 6 Theatres.
The film, shot in 1972 by Sydney Pollack at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, premiered Monday at the Doc NYC festival. Warner Bros. Pictures captured the footage for a companion documentary to the double live album “Amazing Grace,” which became Franklin’s best-selling album, but technical issues prevented the release of the pic.
Producer Alan Elliott acquired the movie rights in 2007 and worked with a team of producers, including Joe Boyd, Robert Johnson, Chiemi Karasawa, Sabrina Owens, Jerry Wexler, Tirrell D. Whittley, and Joseph Woolf. Franklin, who died in August, went to court repeatedly to stop its release. “Amazing Grace” is being launched with the support of Franklin’s estate.
The movie includes an 11-minute version of “Amazing Grace,” “Mary Don’t You Weep,” “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,...
The film, shot in 1972 by Sydney Pollack at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, premiered Monday at the Doc NYC festival. Warner Bros. Pictures captured the footage for a companion documentary to the double live album “Amazing Grace,” which became Franklin’s best-selling album, but technical issues prevented the release of the pic.
Producer Alan Elliott acquired the movie rights in 2007 and worked with a team of producers, including Joe Boyd, Robert Johnson, Chiemi Karasawa, Sabrina Owens, Jerry Wexler, Tirrell D. Whittley, and Joseph Woolf. Franklin, who died in August, went to court repeatedly to stop its release. “Amazing Grace” is being launched with the support of Franklin’s estate.
The movie includes an 11-minute version of “Amazing Grace,” “Mary Don’t You Weep,” “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,...
- 11/14/2018
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
New York City’s annual Doc NYC festival kicks off this week, boasting a packed slate of some of this year’s most remarkable documentaries. If you’ve been looking to beef up on your documentary consumption, Doc NYC is the perfect chance to check out a wide variety of some of the year’s best fact-based features. Ahead, we pick out 9 of our most anticipated films from the fest, including awards contenders, a handful of buzzy debuts, and more.
Doc NYC runs November 8 – 15 in New York City and you can check out the full schedule right here.
“Amazing Grace”
In 1972, a year after their massive hit “Woodstock,” Warner Bros. set out to produce an Aretha Franklin performance documentary. It took 43 years, but producer Alan Elliott completed the film shot by Oscar-winning director Sydney Pollack (“Out of Africa”) over two nights at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles.
Doc NYC runs November 8 – 15 in New York City and you can check out the full schedule right here.
“Amazing Grace”
In 1972, a year after their massive hit “Woodstock,” Warner Bros. set out to produce an Aretha Franklin performance documentary. It took 43 years, but producer Alan Elliott completed the film shot by Oscar-winning director Sydney Pollack (“Out of Africa”) over two nights at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles.
- 11/8/2018
- by Kate Erbland, Eric Kohn, Anne Thompson, Chris O'Falt, David Ehrlich and Jude Dry
- Indiewire
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