Real Facts: The Story of Documentary Film Due March 14

doc-history-post

Icarus Films is proud to announce our next two home video DVD and VOD releases, A Boatload of Wild Irishmen and To Tell The Truth.

The films explore the development of documentary, from its beginnings in the Arctic with the work of Robert Flaherty to the emergence of more political filmmaking during the Great Depression, to using documentary in the battle of ideas during World War II.

Inevitably, the films engage ethical questions that are still asked today: Does “non-fiction” necessarily ensure a depiction of truth? How should filmmakers relate to their subjects? What is a “documentary” film?

A Boatload of Wild Irishmen and To Tell The Truth will be available on home video DVD and video-on-demand on March 14, 2017.

 

 


 

A BOATLOAD OF WILD IRISHMEN
The Life of Robert Flaherty
A film by Mac Dara Ó Curraidhín / Written by Brian Winston

“A long overdue portrait.”  Leonardo Reviews

Credited as the father of modern documentary film, Robert Flaherty is also a controversial figure. The minute he chose to stage scenes in his seminal Inuit film project, Nanook of the North, he was opening documentary’s Pandora’s Box.

A Boatload of Wild Irishmen is an entertaining portrait of Flaherty that looks beyond standard polemical positions to present a complex view of the man and his work.

Bonus features: a 16-page booklet with a new essay by noted film scholar, Brian Winston, and three video extras on the DVD: Ricky Leacock’s final filmed interview; J.C. Boudreaux, the boy in Louisiana Story, remembers Flaherty; and thoughts on Flaherty and the Documentary.

A Boatload of Wild Irishmen will be released on DVD and available for digital purchase and rental on iTunes and Amazon.

Pre-book date: 02/07/17
Street date: 03/14/17

 


TO TELL THE TRUTH
Working for Change: Documenting Hard Times (1920–1941)
A film by Calvin Skaggs
The Strategy of Truth: Documentary Goes to War (1933–1945)
A film by David van Taylor

“For those doubting the power of documentaries to have a social impact, To Tell the Truth should give them an idea.” The New York Times

Working for Change, the first of two films, is a history of the early development of documentary filmmaking in the US and UK from 1929 to 1941. It is focused on the social and political movements of the times, the Great Depression, and the New Deal.

The Strategy of Truth is an examination of documentary filmmaking in 1933 to 1945 during World War II, and how film was used as propaganda in the US, the UK, and Germany.

Bonus features: This rich two-disc set is packed with video extras—Alec Baldwin on the importance of documentaries, Agnes Varda on the making of documentaries, film historian Kevin Brownlow on Leni Riefenstahl, propagandist for the Nazis, and additional interviews with Jeffrey Richards, Jo Fox, and David Culbert… plus two World War II documentaries by John Huston (Let There Be Light and The Autobiography of a Jeep)!

To Tell The Truth will be released on DVD and available for digital purchase and rental on Amazon.

Pre-book date: 02/07/17
Street Date: 03/14/17

 


In an era where the term “fake news” is easily thrown around and facts are at risk of becoming inconsequential, the history of film and documentary ethics becomes more and more relevant. A Boatload of Wild Irishmen and To Tell The Truth explore important questions regarding the ethics of non-fiction, the nature of “truth,” and the historical context for today’s media landscape.A Boatload of Wild Irishmen and To Tell The Truth will be available on home video DVD and video-on-demand on March 14, 2017.
doc-1Watch the trailer for A Boatload of Wild Irishmen

 

doc-2Watch the trailer for To Tell The Truth: Working for Change

 

doc-3Watch the trailer for To Tell The Truth: The Strategy of Truth

A BOATLOAD OF WILD IRISHMEN
A film by Mac Dara Ó Curraidhín
DVD / 84′ / color / English / 1.78:1 / 2011
UPC #  8-54565-00201-2
SRP: $29.98

TO TELL THE TRUTH
Two films by Calvin Skaggs & David van Taylor
DVD / 2 x 52′ + extras / color / English / 1.78:1 / 2012
UPC #  8-54565-00200-5
SRP: $29.98

 

 

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