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Industry | Entertainment |
---|---|
Founded | 2000 |
Founder | Tim Disney Bill Haney |
Headquarters | Boston, MA Los Angeles, CA |
Key people | Tim Disney Bill Haney Maura McCarthy Haney |
Products | Film |
Website | www.uncommonproductions.com |
Uncommon Productions, LLC is an independent film company based in Boston, Massachusetts and Los Angeles, California. [1] Founded in 2000 by Bill Haney and Tim Disney, Uncommon's films tend to focus on social issues. Recent films include cancer immunotherapy documentary, Jim Allison: Breakthrough, mountain top removal documentary The Last Mountain [2] featuring Robert Kennedy Jr., and the NAACP Image Award nominated drama American Violet about drug enforcement, starring Alfre Woodard and Charles S. Dutton.
In 2007 the owners of a Dominican Republic sugar plantation sued the company for defamation because of the way they were portrayed in the Uncommon Productions film The Price of Sugar . As of 2010 the lawsuit had not been settled. [3]
The River is a 1938 short documentary film which shows the importance of the Mississippi River to the United States, and how farming and timber practices had caused topsoil to be swept down the river and into the Gulf of Mexico, leading to catastrophic floods and impoverishing farmers. It ends by briefly describing how the Tennessee Valley Authority project was beginning to reverse these problems.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the betterment of all humanity. AAAS was the first permanent organization to promote science and engineering nationally and to represent the interests of American researchers from across all scientific fields. It is the world's largest general scientific society, with over 120,000 members, and is the publisher of the well-known scientific journal Science.
Pare Lorentz was an American filmmaker known for his film work about the New Deal. Born Leonard MacTaggart Lorentz in Clarksburg, West Virginia he was educated at Buckhannon High School, West Virginia Wesleyan College, and West Virginia University. As a young film critic in both New York City and Hollywood, Lorentz spoke out against censorship in the film industry.
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas, United States. It began in 1987 and has continued growing in both scope and size every year. In 2017, the conference lasted for 10 days with the interactive track lasting for five days, music for seven days, and film for nine days. There was no in-person event in 2020 and 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Austin, Texas; in both years there was a smaller online event instead.
Eric Byler is an American film director, screenwriter and political activist.
International Documentary Association (IDA), founded in 1982, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) that promotes nonfiction filmmakers, and is dedicated to increasing public awareness for the documentary genre. Their major program areas are: Advocacy, Filmmaker Services, Education, and Public Programs and Events.
The Price of Sugar is a 2007 Uncommon Productions film directed by Bill Haney and produced by Haney and Eric Grunebaum about exploitation of Haitian immigrants in the Dominican Republic involved with production of sugar, and the efforts of Spanish priest Father Christopher Hartley to ameliorate their situation. It is narrated by actor Paul Newman. The documentary shows the poor working conditions in the sugar cane plantations, and political control exerted by the Vicini family to stifle efforts to change the situation.
The Garden is a 2008 American documentary film directed by Scott Hamilton Kennedy. It tells the story of the now demolished South Central Farm; a community garden and urban farm located in Los Angeles, California. The Garden details the plight of the South Central Farmers, a mostly Latin community of farmers who organized and worked on the farm. After a suspected back room deal, the land upon which the farm operated was sold from the city back to the original owner, Ralph Horowitz. He then decided he did not want to allow the farmers to use it anymore. Despite efforts to keep their farm, the South Central Farmers were evicted and their garden was bulldozed. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature on 22 January 2008.
Bob and the Monster is a 2011 documentary film by Keirda Bahruth which profiles musician and drug counselor Bob Forrest.
Oil on Ice is a 2004 documentary film directed by Bo Boudart and Dale Djerassi. It explores the Arctic Refuge drilling controversy in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the impact of oil and gas development on the land, wildlife, and lives of the Gwich'in Athabascan Indians and Inupiat Eskimos.
Gimme the Loot is a 2012 American comedy film written and directed by Adam Leon. The film competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. It won the Grand Jury Prize at the SXSW Film Festival in 2012. It was released on March 22, 2013, in the U.S.
James Patrick Allison is an American immunologist and Nobel laureate who holds the position of professor and chair of immunology and executive director of immunotherapy platform at the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas.
Johannes Wahlström is a Swedish journalist and filmmaker.
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi is an American documentary filmmaker. She was the director, along with her husband, Jimmy Chin, for the film Free Solo, which won the 2019 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. The film profiled Alex Honnold and his free solo climb of El Capitan in June 2017.
Josh Greenbaum is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He has won an MTV Movie Award, CINE Golden Eagle and Emmy Award. He directed the feature documentary The Short Game, winner of the SXSW Audience Award, which was acquired by Netflix to launch their Originals film division. He also directed Becoming Bond, a documentary about George Lazenby, which won SXSW's Audience Award in the Visions category, as well as the critically acclaimed Too Funny to Fail, a documentary about The Dana Carvey Show. He is also the creator, director and executive producer of Behind the Mask, which earned Hulu its first ever Emmy nomination.
Landfill Harmonic is a 2015 documentary film directed by Brad Allgood and Graham Townsley. It stars and tells the story of Paraguayan music teacher Favio Chavez and his Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, a children's orchestra in Paraguay which performs with materials recycled from a trash landfill near Asunción. According to The Huffington Post, "[t]he film is both an exposé on the harsh conditions of slum life and a commentary on the global threats of consumption and waste".
Fiona Jane Dawson is a writer, producer, and film director. She is best known for the documentary TransMilitary, which premiered at SXSW Film Festival in 2018 and won the Audience Award. Dawson is an Emmy-nominated documentarian and has lived in America since 2000.
Joshua Z Weinstein is an American independent filmmaker based in New York City. He directed the A24 film Menashe (2017), and the feature documentaries Drivers Wanted (2012) and Flying on One Engine (2008). His director of photography credits include Bikini Moon (2017), Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me (2013), and Code of the West (2012). Weinstein was nominated for Best First Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards and Breakthrough Director at the Gotham Awards. He has been nominated for a Cannes Lion for his advertising work and won a first place POY for his work with The New York Times.
Celine Held is an American and British film director, writer, and actress. Her debut feature film Topside, co-directed with her partner Logan George, premiered at the 77th Venice International Film Festival. Her short film Caroline that she co-wrote, co-directed and starred in, was nominated for the Short Film Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. Her additional short film work has premiered at Sundance Film Festival and at South by Southwest.
Black Mothers Love & Resist is an American documentary film released in 2022.