Talking to Dustin Lance Black can give you chills. The Milk screenwriter and Oscar winner has a calm, confident compassion about him that almost overshadows his eloquent replies to such intense subjects as the Mormon church and the battle for same-sex marriage.
In the midst of the throng of interviews taking place on the red carpet at Saturday’s 21st annual GLAAD Media Awards, the out writer and activist stopped to talk with AfterElton.com about his advice for Promgate’s Constance McMillen and why the GLAAD Media Awards are so important.
AfterElton.com: Why do you think the GLAAD Media Awards are important?
Dustin Lance Black: I think it’s one of the things that if there’s going to be a watchdog group for the gay and lesbian community — which means they’ll get on people’s backs when they say the wrong things — it’s always...
In the midst of the throng of interviews taking place on the red carpet at Saturday’s 21st annual GLAAD Media Awards, the out writer and activist stopped to talk with AfterElton.com about his advice for Promgate’s Constance McMillen and why the GLAAD Media Awards are so important.
AfterElton.com: Why do you think the GLAAD Media Awards are important?
Dustin Lance Black: I think it’s one of the things that if there’s going to be a watchdog group for the gay and lesbian community — which means they’ll get on people’s backs when they say the wrong things — it’s always...
- 4/22/2010
- by Snoodit
- The Backlot
See new images from new company Red Flag Releasing's "8: The Mormon Proposition" documentary. The film by Reed Cowan which played at this year's Sundance Film Festival, opens June 18th and is narrated by Dustin Lance Black (Academy Award-winning screenwriter of "Milk"). In 2009, thousands of Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender (Lgbt) citizens were denied almost 200 civil rights their straight, married counterparts enjoy through civil marriage with only some states signaling some progress. But amid the progress, political experts featured in the feature documentary film 8: The Mormon Proposition (8:tmp) say the Mormon Church, using front groups, has been coordinating, financing and leading the effort to stop the advancement of marriage equality for more than three decades.
- 4/21/2010
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Red Flag Releasing, a new independent distributors will open the documentary "8: The Mormon Proposition" in theaters as well as On Demand cable and digital download channels on June 18th. Reed Cowan’s documentary is narrated by Dustin Lance Black (Academy Award-winning screenwriter of "Milk") and recounts the Mormon Church's involvement in the campaign on behalf of California's Proposition 8 which banned same-sex marriage in the state. Theaters to receive the film are New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Palm Springs, Phoenix, San Diego, Dallas, Houston and Honolulu. Cowan produced with co-director Steven Greenstreet, Chris Volz and Emily Pearson for David V. Goliath Productions. Paul Federbush, Laura Kim and Ron Stein recently launched Red Flag.
- 4/19/2010
- Upcoming-Movies.com
New indie distributor Red Flag Releasing will open Reed Cowan’s documentary "8: The Mormon Proposition" simultaneously in theaters, as an On Demand cable and satellite offering and through digital download channels on June 18.
Narrated by Dustin Lance Black, the doc recounts the Mormon Church's involvement in the campaign on behalf of California's Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in the state.
The film will open in theaters in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Palm Springs, Phoenix, San Diego, Dallas, Houston and Honolulu.
It was produced by Cowan, Steven Greenstreet (who co-directed), Chris Volz and Emily Pearson for David V. Goliath Prods. Cowan and Bruce Bastian served as executive producers.
Red Flag was recently launched by indie vets Paul Federbush, Laura Kim and Ron Stein.
Narrated by Dustin Lance Black, the doc recounts the Mormon Church's involvement in the campaign on behalf of California's Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in the state.
The film will open in theaters in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Palm Springs, Phoenix, San Diego, Dallas, Houston and Honolulu.
It was produced by Cowan, Steven Greenstreet (who co-directed), Chris Volz and Emily Pearson for David V. Goliath Prods. Cowan and Bruce Bastian served as executive producers.
Red Flag was recently launched by indie vets Paul Federbush, Laura Kim and Ron Stein.
- 4/18/2010
- by By Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
New distributor-on-the-block Red Flag Releasing--led by two ex-Warner Independent execs, Paul Federbush and Laura Kim--is embracing both the digital future and the theatrical past with its first release, the controversial hot-button Sundance doc 8: The Mormon Proposition. The distrib is taking out the doc in thirteen markets day-and-date with simultaneous distribution On Demand and through digital download channels on June 18, two years after the first gay marriage rites in California. Written and directed by journalist and ex-Mormon missionary Reed Cowan, 8: The Mormon Proposition is narrated by Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (Milk). Set in California and Utah, the doc exposes the Mormon Church's role in fighting gay rights and marriage and promoting the passage of California's Proposition 8 (a challenge to the gay marriage ...
- 4/16/2010
- Thompson on Hollywood
Lots of acquisitions recently! Here they are, in alphabetical order:
As reported in indieWire, former Warner Independent Pictures colleagues Paul Federbush and Laura Kim, along with investor Ron Stein, announced a newly launched distribution company, Red Flag Releasing, along with their first acquisition, Reed Cowan's 8: The Mormon Proposition, which premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Red Flag will handle theatrical and VOD releases for the film, which is slated to premiere this spring.
Magnolia Pictures acquired the North American theatrical rights to Lucy Walker's Countdown to Zero, about nuclear proliferation ...
As reported in indieWire, former Warner Independent Pictures colleagues Paul Federbush and Laura Kim, along with investor Ron Stein, announced a newly launched distribution company, Red Flag Releasing, along with their first acquisition, Reed Cowan's 8: The Mormon Proposition, which premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Red Flag will handle theatrical and VOD releases for the film, which is slated to premiere this spring.
Magnolia Pictures acquired the North American theatrical rights to Lucy Walker's Countdown to Zero, about nuclear proliferation ...
- 2/15/2010
- by IDA Editorial Staff
- International Documentary Association
Paul Federbush and former Warner Independent Pictures's head Laura Kim are starting up a new distribution company going by the name of Red Flag Releasing and they'll get the business started with a Sundance doc that ruffled many feathers before anyone even laid eyes on the film. Much like how people invest in the stock market, perhaps the best time for new distribution companies to get into the action is when the industry is at low point, and they'll release a doc film with bite this Spring in Reed Cowan's 8: The Mormon Proposition. - Paul Federbush and former Warner Independent Pictures's head Laura Kim are starting up a new distribution company going by the name of Red Flag Releasing and they'll get the business started with a Sundance doc that ruffled many feathers before anyone even laid eyes on the film. Much like how people invest in the stock market,...
- 2/11/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
Industry veterans Paul Federbush and Laura Kim are joining forces with investor Ron Stein to launch Red Flag Releasing with their first acquisition, Reed Cowan's "8: The Mormon Proposition" from this year's Sundance Film Festival. The new distribution company has acquired all North American rights to the film in the wake of its Park City debut last month and plans to pursue theatrical and VOD outlets for the release of the ...
- 2/10/2010
- Indiewire
While our Sundance home page is the place for all our coverage from Park City, here is a brief rundown of what's been going on during the last 24 hours, including a new photo gallery for the Catherine Keener-Amanda Peet dramedy "Please Give" and reviews of "Lucky," "The Freebie" and "Mother and Child."
Matt Singer got an unwelcome Paul Haggis vibe from Rodrigo Garcia's "Mother and Child," a multi-stranded drama starring Annette Bening, Naomi Watts and Kerry Washington as a trio of women connected through pregnancy and adoption that Sony Classics will release in May. Here's an excerpt from his review, which can be found in full here:
The winner in the bunch is Naomi Watts who, in a terrific performance, plays Elizabeth, a ferociously competitive careerist starting a new job at a law firm run by Paul (Samuel L. Jackson). For Watts, Elizabeth offers an opportunity to...
Matt Singer got an unwelcome Paul Haggis vibe from Rodrigo Garcia's "Mother and Child," a multi-stranded drama starring Annette Bening, Naomi Watts and Kerry Washington as a trio of women connected through pregnancy and adoption that Sony Classics will release in May. Here's an excerpt from his review, which can be found in full here:
The winner in the bunch is Naomi Watts who, in a terrific performance, plays Elizabeth, a ferociously competitive careerist starting a new job at a law firm run by Paul (Samuel L. Jackson). For Watts, Elizabeth offers an opportunity to...
- 1/27/2010
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
“I am not immature enough to think we have 100% believers in this audience in what we are doing, and what we’ve done,” “8: The Mormon Proposition” director Reed Cowan said as he introduced the world premiere of his film at the Sundance Film Festival yesterday. “So for those of you in the audience who are skeptical or nervous or afraid of what this film is about to say… First of …...
- 1/25/2010
- Indiewire
Reed Cowan’s 8: The Mormon Proposition received two "sustained standing ovations" at its Sundance Film Festival screening on Sunday, reports Sean P. Means in The Salt Lake Tribune. A rumored protest against the film failed to materialize. Narrated by Milk’s Academy Award-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black — who happens to be gay and to have been raised Mormon — 8: The Mormon Proposition accuses the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of offering insidious support to California’s Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriages in the state. According to Means’ article, "some in the audience cried when hearing stories of gay men and lesbians recounting discrimination they have suffered. Others hissed when Utah [...]...
- 1/25/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
8: The Mormon Proposition, Reed Cowan’s (photo) controversial documentary on the connection between the Latter-day Saints Church and the passage of the anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 in California in fall 2008, has sold out five screenings at the Sundance Film Festival, according to a report in Cache Valley’s Herald Journal. (That’s in northern Utah.) The report adds that tickets for 8: The Mormon Proposition "were snapped up before any other Sundance documentary and all but a handful of feature films." The Proposition 8 campaign — both for and against marriage equality — cost approximately $80m. According to estimates reported in the Sacramento Bee, anti-gay marriage Mormon money accounted for about one-quarter of that amount. Cowan, a 1997 Utah State University graduate [...]...
- 1/15/2010
- by Alessandro Moretti
- Alt Film Guide
Yesterday we got the list for the films playing in competition at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and today we get the rest of the films that will be featured and there are quite a few that make 2010 look much stronger based on pedigree alone than I have seen in quite some time. Variety has a big write-up detailing the categories and more on the festival right here, but I am just going to offer up the titles and let you sort it all out.
The titles already in the RopeofSilicon database are linked.
Premieres
All films are from the United States unless otherwise noted Abel (Mexico-u.S.), the directorial debut of actor Diego Luna, written by Luna and Agusto Mendoza, about a peculiar young boy who, as he blurs reality and fantasy, takes over the responsibilities of a family man in his father's absence. With Jose Maria Yazpik, Karina Gidi,...
The titles already in the RopeofSilicon database are linked.
Premieres
All films are from the United States unless otherwise noted Abel (Mexico-u.S.), the directorial debut of actor Diego Luna, written by Luna and Agusto Mendoza, about a peculiar young boy who, as he blurs reality and fantasy, takes over the responsibilities of a family man in his father's absence. With Jose Maria Yazpik, Karina Gidi,...
- 12/3/2009
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
The Sundance Film Festival's competition lineup for 2010, announced Wednesday, might demand that audiences wear their serious caps. But the out-of-competition selections allow programmers and viewers to cut loose a little.
The 53 films that populate this year's Premieres, Next, Spotlight, Park City at Midnight and New Frontier sections run the gamut from the cosmically experimental to the star-studded and silly. There is indeed something for everyone at this year's event, which runs Jan. 21-31 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.
As usual, Premieres collects work involving the industry's higher-profile talent, none more so than John Wells' feature directorial debut, "The Company Men," which stars Ben Affleck, Kevin Costner, Maria Bello, Tommy Lee Jones and Chris Cooper. Mexican actor Diego Luna's directorial debut, "Abel," will screen, as will Philip Seymour Hoffman's "Jack Goes Boating."
Michael Winterbottom has the rare distinction of having two films in...
The 53 films that populate this year's Premieres, Next, Spotlight, Park City at Midnight and New Frontier sections run the gamut from the cosmically experimental to the star-studded and silly. There is indeed something for everyone at this year's event, which runs Jan. 21-31 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.
As usual, Premieres collects work involving the industry's higher-profile talent, none more so than John Wells' feature directorial debut, "The Company Men," which stars Ben Affleck, Kevin Costner, Maria Bello, Tommy Lee Jones and Chris Cooper. Mexican actor Diego Luna's directorial debut, "Abel," will screen, as will Philip Seymour Hoffman's "Jack Goes Boating."
Michael Winterbottom has the rare distinction of having two films in...
- 12/3/2009
- by By Jay A. Fernandez
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Salt Lake City -- Reed Cowan's reasons for making a film about the Mormon church's activism against gay marriage in California are personal.
Himself gay and Mormon, Cowan clashed with his family over his sexual orientation and the beliefs of their faith, but it was a conversation between him and a sibling about her support of Proposition 8 cemented his commitment to make the film: "8: The Mormon Proposition."
"I thought, if this is the dialogue in my Mormon family, then what is like in other Mormon households?" the Miami-area filmmaker and former Utah television journalist said. "If this is the pain I feel over Prop. 8 and other Mormon efforts to quash (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) rights, what is the pain of others multiplied all over the world?"
While the 80-minute documentary is still in production, a trailer posted on the Internet has caught the eye of both sides of the debate,...
Himself gay and Mormon, Cowan clashed with his family over his sexual orientation and the beliefs of their faith, but it was a conversation between him and a sibling about her support of Proposition 8 cemented his commitment to make the film: "8: The Mormon Proposition."
"I thought, if this is the dialogue in my Mormon family, then what is like in other Mormon households?" the Miami-area filmmaker and former Utah television journalist said. "If this is the pain I feel over Prop. 8 and other Mormon efforts to quash (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) rights, what is the pain of others multiplied all over the world?"
While the 80-minute documentary is still in production, a trailer posted on the Internet has caught the eye of both sides of the debate,...
- 11/15/2009
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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