Finding Kraftland | |
---|---|
![]() Movie Poster | |
Directed by | Richard Kraft Adam Shell |
Written by | Richard Kraft Adam Shell |
Produced by | Richard Kraft |
Starring | Stacey J. Aswad Richard Kraft Nicholas Kraft |
Edited by | Adam Shell |
Distributed by | Independent |
Release date |
|
Country | United States |
Finding Kraftland is a 2006 independent documentary from Richard Kraft productions starring Stacey J. Aswad, Richard Kraft, and Nicholas Kraft. It premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on January 27, 2006 and continued to play in over 75 film festivals around the globe. [1] [2]
Finding Kraftland is structured as a top ten countdown of the coolest attractions in Kraftland, which is the name given to Richard Kraft's house. Though the host, Stacey, continually bounces around between Richard Kraft's collectibles, the real focus of the film is the bond that develops between Richard and his son Nicholas. Richard remarks that, when Nicholas was born, he didn't know what to make of him, saying he felt as though an "alien being" was living with him. He then goes on to say that, around the time Nicholas turns 3, he realizes that he is "the most interesting person on the planet." This begins a whirl-wind love affair between father and son that sees the two trek around the globe in order to ride every roller coaster, launch themselves into a zero-gravity flight, and generally seek as many thrills as life has to offer. This story unfolds as Richard's collection, which consists of James Bond collectibles from the 1960s, pieces of Disneyland and Walt Disney World attractions, thousands of board games, and advertising memorabilia from Richard's childhood, is displayed and pored over by Stacy. The other story line that develops is Richard's relationship with his deceased parents and older brother, David Kraft, who died in 1993 due to Crohn's disease. The documentary comes to a climax when it is discovered that Richard has also developed Crohn's.
Marc Shaiman provides a musical interlude with his performance of a song titled "Yes" which he wrote for his agent, Richard Kraft. The song pokes fun at Richard's inability to say "no" to any film project.
Nicholas Kraft also composed a piano piece for the film called Kronicles of Kraftland. It serves as the soundtrack for the ending montage. It is the only original piece of music in the film as all the other cues were picked by Richard Kraft from his extensive film music library.
Austin Wintory composed 21 variations of Kronicles of Kraftland titled Kronicles of Kraftland: 21 Film Score Parody Variations on a Theme as a 21st birthday present for Nicholas. The variations are all parodies of Richard Kraft's favorite composers.
Finding Kraftland was intended to be shown once at a joint birthday party for the Krafts and was made as a sweet 16 present for Nicholas from his father. The reception at the showing was so great that they decided to submit the documentary to festivals. Completion of the film took place hours before the premier as last minute changes were made and a final audio-mix had yet to be bounced.
Finding Kraftland was picked to be shown at 62 film festivals, from 2007–2009, [3] winning awards at the following festivals:
Richard Kraft and his son Nicholas have expressed interest in making two sequels to Finding Kraftland. In an interview, Nicholas joked, "[...]the second one will be called Selling Kraftland. At the end of that movie, Richard dies and becomes Obi-Wan Kenobi for the third movie, where I raise my son and he gives me ghostly words of wisdom from beyond the grave." When asked if sequels to Finding Kraftland were seriously being considered, Richard responded, "Oh, absolutely! You can’t have lived this and then go, 'Well, that was the end of it!'" [14]
In 2018, Richard & Nicholas partnered with Van Eaton Galleries to create That's From Disneyland! which was a month-long exhibit and auction of their entire Disney collection which attracted 50,000 people, [15] including celebrities such as Slash, Darren Criss, Neil Patrick Harris, Rebel Wilson, John Landis, Drew Carey, Rachel Bloom, Ben Schwartz and Paul Scheer. The Krafts referred to the exhibit as "Selling Kraftland." [16] The exhibit of Richard's entire Disney collection culminated in a two-day auction which netted $8.3M from the sale of Disney memorabilia" [17] Magician David Copperfield purchased the Disneyland Hotel neon letter “D” for $86,250. [18] American television personality Kris Jenner purchased animatronic dolls from the It's a Small World ride as a Christmas gift for her daughter, Kourtney Kardashian. [19]
Finding Nemo is a 2003 American computer-animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Andrew Stanton with co-direction by Lee Unkrich, the screenplay was written by Stanton, Bob Peterson, and David Reynolds from a story by Stanton. The film stars the voices of Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould, Willem Dafoe, and Geoffrey Rush. It tells the story of an overprotective clownfish named Marlin who, along with a regal blue tang named Dory, searches for his missing son Nemo. Along the way, Marlin learns to take risks and comes to terms with Nemo taking care of himself.
Leonard Michael Maltin is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is best known for his eponymous annual book of movie capsule reviews, Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, published annually from 1969 to 2014.
Marc Shaiman is an American composer and lyricist for films, television, and theatre, best known for his collaborations with lyricist and director Scott Wittman. He wrote the music and co-wrote the lyrics for the Broadway musical version of the John Waters film Hairspray. He has won a Grammy, an Emmy, and a Tony, and been nominated for seven Oscars.
Charles Burnett is an American film director, film producer, writer, editor, actor, photographer, and cinematographer. His most popular films include Killer of Sheep (1978), My Brother's Wedding (1983), To Sleep with Anger (1990), The Glass Shield (1994), and Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation (2007). He has been involved in other types of motion pictures including shorts, documentaries, and a TV series.
Richard Morton Sherman is an American songwriter who specialized in musical films with his brother Robert B. Sherman. According to the official Walt Disney Company website and independent fact checkers, "the Sherman Brothers were responsible for more motion picture musical song scores than any other songwriting team in film history."
Michael Giacchino is an American composer of music for films, television and video games. He has also served as a director for television. He has received many awards, including an Oscar for his work on Up (2009), an Emmy for his work on Lost (2004), and three Grammys for his work on Ratatouille (2007) and Up (2009).
Graeme Revell is a New Zealand musician and composer. He came to prominence in the 1980s as the leader of the industrial/electronic group SPK. Since the 1990s he has worked primarily as a film score composer.
Mike Fink Keel Boats were small boats that navigated the Rivers of America at Disneyland, the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Park in Disneyland Paris.
John Ottman is an American film composer and editor. He is best known for collaborating with director Bryan Singer, composing and/or editing many of his films, including Public Access (1993), The Usual Suspects (1995), Superman Returns (2006), Valkyrie (2008) and Jack the Giant Slayer (2013), as well as the X-Men film series. For his work on Singer's 2018 Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, Ottman won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing.
Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing is a 2006 American documentary film produced and directed by Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck.
The Tribe is a short documentary film directed by Tiffany Shlain and narrated by Peter Coyote. Weaving together archival footage, graphics and animation, it tells the history of both the Barbie doll and the Jewish people from Biblical times to the present.
Seal Island is a 1948 American documentary film directed by James Algar. Produced by Walt Disney, it was the first installment of the True-Life Adventures series of nature documentaries. It won an Oscar in 1949 for Best Short Subject (Two-Reel).
Gingger Shankar is an American singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist. She has scored several films, including Circumstance.
The Buffalo International Film Festival was founded in 2006, and takes place in October of each year in Buffalo, New York. It is also known as the Buffalo Film Festival.
Indyfans and the Quest for Fortune and Glory is a 2008 American feature length documentary fan film written and directed by Brandon Kleyla to examine interest in the Indiana Jones films through interviews and profiles of more than 50 devotees of the films.
Saving Mr. Banks is a 2013 biographical drama film directed by John Lee Hancock from a screenplay written by Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith. Centered on the development of the 1964 film Mary Poppins, the film stars Emma Thompson as author P. L. Travers and Tom Hanks as film producer Walt Disney, with supporting performances by Paul Giamatti, Jason Schwartzman, Bradley Whitford, Colin Farrell, Ruth Wilson, and B.J. Novak. Deriving its title from the father in Travers's story, Saving Mr. Banks depicts the author's tragic childhood in rural Queensland in 1906 and the two weeks of meetings during 1961 in Los Angeles, during which Disney attempts to obtain the screen rights to her novels.
Finding Nemo is a CGI animated film series and Disney media franchise that began with the 2003 film of the same name, produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The original film was followed by a sequel, Finding Dory, released in 2016. Both films were directed by Andrew Stanton. The film series received widespread critical acclaim from critics and audiences with two films released to-date, the series has grossed $1.9 billion worldwide.
Finding Vivian Maier is a 2013 American documentary film about the photographer Vivian Maier, written, directed, and produced by John Maloof and Charlie Siskel, and executive produced by Jeff Garlin.
Indie Rights, Inc. is an American distributor of independent films, based in Los Angeles, California. Indie Rights is a subsidiary of Nelson Madison Films and was incorporated in 2007 to act as distributor for other independent filmmakers. The corporation began as a private MySpace group where the makers of independent films could get information about the changing face of film distribution; founders Linda Nelson and Michael Madison created Indie Rights so that distribution contracts could be signed by a legal entity. The corporation distributes films largely through video on demand services, though more recently it has overseen such theatrical releases as We Are Kings and Fray, both in 2014.
For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration is a musical show based on Disney's 2013 3D computer-animated musical feature film Frozen and the songs from the film, located at Disney's Hollywood Studios and Shanghai Disneyland Park. It was also formerly hosted at Disney California Adventure, Disneyland Park in Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland.