Flannery | |
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Directed by | Elizabeth Coffman and Mark Bosco |
Produced by | Bob Hercules, Christopher O’Hare and Stefan Sonnenfeld |
Narrated by | Mary Steenburgen |
Music by | Miriam Cutler, Bruce Springsteen and Lucinda Williams |
Distributed by | 20th Century Fox CIS |
Release date |
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Flannery is a 2019 documentary film from Long Distance Productions about American novelist Flannery O'Connor. [1] [2]
The film had its world premiere in October 2019 at the opening night of the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, [3] as well as additional screenings at the New Orleans Film Festival and Austin Film Festival. [4] [5]
Persons appearing in the film include: [6]
Directed by Elizabeth Coffman and Mark Bosco, Flannery is the first National Endowment for the Humanities feature documentary to explore the life of acclaimed southern U.S. writer Flannery O'Connor. [7]
Coffman is a documentary filmmaker, scholar and professor at Loyola University Chicago. She owns and directs films with Ted Hardin of Long Distance Productions. Bosco is a Jesuit priest, O'Connor scholar and Vice President for Mission and Ministry at Georgetown University. [8]
The score for the film, by award-winning composer Miriam Cutler ("RBG", "Dark Money") includes O'Connor-inspired songs by Bruce Springsteen and Lucinda Williams. With animations, letters, never-before-seen photographs and archival footage, soul-raising music and insights from top American writers, actors and critics, the film illustrates the life of the brilliant and reclusive writer. [9] A soundtrack album was released by Perseverance Records in 2021.
Executive producers include Bob Hercules, Christopher O’Hare and Stefan Sonnenfeld.
Flannery had its world premiere in October 2019 at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival. [10]
The film won the first Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film. [11] [12] Filmmaker Ken Burns, who chairs his namesake award, said in regard to the film, "Flannery is an extraordinary documentary that allows us to follow the creative process of one of our country’s greatest writers." [13] In October 2019, it was awarded the prize for best Documentary Feature at the Austin Film Festival. [14]
Flannery received generally positive reviews from critics. As of October 2021 [update] , 74% of the 22 compiled by Rotten Tomatoes are positive, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Flannery's filmmaking doesn't live up to its subject's classic work, but it remains a reasonably engaging introduction." [15]
Mary Flannery O'Connor was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. She wrote two novels and 32 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries.
Kenneth Lauren Burns is an American filmmaker, known for his style of using archival footage and photographs in documentary films.
The Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival is an annual independent film festival held each March in San Jose, California and Redwood City, California. The international festival combines the cinematic arts with Silicon Valley’s innovation. It is produced by Cinequest, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization that is also responsible for Picture The Possibilities and the distribution label Cinequest Mavericks Studio LLC. Cinequest awards the annual Maverick Spirit Awards. In addition to over 130 world or U.S. premieres from over 30 countries, the festival hosts writer's events including screenwriting competitions, a shorts program, technology and artistic forums and workshops, student programs, and a silent film accompanied on the theatre organ. Founded in 1990 as the Cinequest Film Festival, the festival was rebranded in 2017 as the Cinequest Film & VR Festival and expanded beyond downtown San Jose to Redwood City. It took its present name in 2019.
The Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival is a documentary film festival held biennially in Yamagata, Japan.
Wise Blood is a 1979 black-comedy drama film directed by John Huston and starring Brad Dourif, Dan Shor, Amy Wright, Harry Dean Stanton, and Ned Beatty. It is based on the 1952 novel Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor. As a co-production with Germany the film was titled Der Ketzer or Die Weisheit des Blutes when released in Germany, and Le Malin when released in France.
Austin Film Festival (AFF), founded in 1994, is an organization in Austin, Texas, that focuses on writers’ creative contributions to film. Initially, AFF was called the Austin Heart of Film Screenwriters Conference and functioned to launch the careers of screenwriters, who historically have been underrepresented within the film industry.
Mark Bosco, S.J. is a Jesuit priest and a professor. His areas of research and specialization are in the fields of 20th-Century American and British Literature, the Roman Catholic literary tradition, aesthetics, art, and the religious imagination. He is an authority on the works of Flannery O'Connor and Graham Greene.
The 71st World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), also known as LoneStarCon 3, was held on 29 August–2 September 2013 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center and Marriott Rivercenter in San Antonio, Texas, United States.
The Dublin International Film Festival, known for sponsorship reasons as the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival (VMDIFF), is a film festival held in Dublin, Ireland, since 2003.
Andrea Kalin is an American independent filmmaker, writer, producer, and director. She is also the principal and founder of Spark Media and founder and Executive Director of Stone Soup Productions, a 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation.
Patrick Creadon is an American filmmaker primarily known for his work in documentaries. His first film, Wordplay, profiled New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz and premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. The film screened in over 500 theatres nationwide and became the second-highest grossing documentary of that year. His second film, I.O.U.S.A., is a non-partisan examination of America's national debt problem and forecast the global financial crisis of 2007-2008. I.O.U.S.A. premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and was later named one of the Top 5 Documentaries of the Year by film critic Roger Ebert.
Alan Zweig is a Canadian documentary filmmaker known for often using film to explore his own life.
Freedom Riders is a 2010 American historical documentary film, produced by Firelight Media for PBS American Experience. The film is based in part on the book Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice by historian Raymond Arsenault. Directed by Stanley Nelson, it marked the 50th anniversary of the first Freedom Ride in May 1961 and first aired on May 16, 2011. It was funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The film was also featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show program titled, Freedom Riders: 50th Anniversary. Nelson was helped in the making of the documentary by Arsenault and Derek Catsam, an associate professor at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin.
Unacceptable Levels is a 2013 documentary film about the widespread use of artificial chemicals and their effects on the natural environment and human health. It was directed and written by first-time filmmaker Ed Brown.
Narges Abyar is an Iranian film director, author and screenwriter, best known for directing Track 143, Breath, and When the Moon Was Full. The film Track 143 is adapted from Abyar's novel titled The Third Eye narrating the story of a woman and her son during the time of war. Her films sensitively picture the sufferings of women and children caused by the society, war or radicalism.
Sarah Burns is an American author, public speaker, and filmmaker. She is the author of The Central Park Five: A Chronicle of a City Wilding. She is also the co-producer and director for the documentary film The Central Park Five which she co-produced and directed with her husband David McMahon and her father Ken Burns.
Advocate is a 2019 Israeli documentary film, directed by Rachel Leah Jones and Philippe Bellaïche. The film premiered at the 2019 Sundance Festival, and went on to win top prizes at Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, Kraków Film Festival, Hong Kong International Film Festival and Docaviv Festival. Advocate won the Emmy for Best Documentary in the 42nd News and Documentary Emmy Awards.
The Better Angels Society is a 501(c)3 organization that was founded in 2013 by supporters of Ken Burns to raise funds from individuals of wealth and private family foundations. Amy Margerum Berg has served as the organization's president since 2016.
Cured is an American documentary film, directed by Bennett Singer and Patrick Sammon and released in 2020. The film depicts the inner workings of the campaign that led to homosexuality being delisted from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1973.
Lilly Burns is an American television producer who co-founded Jax Media. In January 2022, she was named president of Imagine Entertainment.