Archive for the ‘Client News’ Category
RPL Client Releases Documentary Chronicalling 1976 Israeli Raid on Entebbe
RPL is proud to announce the U.S. (May 18, 2012) and international theatrical release of Follow Me: The Yoni Netanyahu Story, written and co-directed (along with Ari Daniel Pinchot) by filmmaker and Firm client Jonathan Gruber of Black Eye Productions, Inc. The documentary tells the stories of the eight days leading up to the Israeli raid on Entebbe on July 4, 1976, during which Israeli commandos freed over 100 hostages, as well as the life story of the leader of that operation, Harvard-educated, 30-year-old Yoni Netanyahu. The film features never-before-seen footage, Yoni’s letters, as well as interviews with friends, military colleagues and family, including Benjamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak and Shimon Peres.
Jonathan Gruber has been directing award-winning documentary films, commercials and videos for more than twenty years. Projects he has produced and directed – including Jewish Soldiers in the Blue & Gray, which can be seen on PBS stations nationally – have screened at festivals and theaters internationally, as well as on PBS, The History Channel, National Geographic and the Discovery Networks.
RPL Client Produces First Mainstream Lacrosse Movie
RPL congratulates its client Crooked Arrows, LLC on the opening of Crooked Arrows in select cities on May 18th and nationwide on June 1st.
Crooked Arrows is America’s first mainstream lacrosse movie, with thrilling lacrosse action and a storyline that acknowledges the proud heritage of the game. Crooked Arrows is great for families and sports fans alike and for anyone who loves a great underdog story. RPL attorneys Nicole Page, Neil Parent, Deena R. Merlen and associate Niki D. Cubides (J.D., admission pending) provided legal services in connection with this movie.
RPL Client Publishes Debut Novel
BY: ELLEN KEENAN-O’MALLEY
RPL congratulates its client Devan Sipher on his debut novel The Wedding Beat. Sipher’s five years writing the “Vows” column for the New York Times inspired The Wedding Beat – a romantic comedy from a man’s point of view.
Marlaine Glicksman Screens “The Commandment Keepers”
DATED: Current
By: ELLEN KEENAN-O’MALLEY
RPL is proud to announce that client Marlaine Glicksman will screen her newest documentary film, “The Commandment Keepers,” on April 17, 2012 at the 92nd Street Y Buttenwieser Hall located at 1395 Lexington Avenue, New York at 8:15 pm.
“The Commandment Keepers” tells the story of the Commandment Keepers Ethiopian Synagogue, a highly observant African American synagogue that opened in Harlem in 1919. The documentary, featured in The New York Times, is a dramatic story of a community caught between two worlds, Black and Jewish, a minority’s minority, struggling to hold on to its faith and identity. A portrait and history of the community, which now encompasses a rabbinic institute and sister synagogues nationally, “The Commandment Keepers” challenges stereotypes and the myth of monolithic race and religion. A panel discussion will follow the screening.
Marlaine Glicksman is an award-winning filmmaker, screenwriter, photographer and journalist. She has shot for Vibe, George, and Travel & Leisure and has written for Rolling Stone, George, Harper’s, Harper’s Bazaar, Interview and the Jerusalem Post Magazine, among other publications, and was an editor for Vogue and Senior Editor for Film Comment.
For more information about the screening and to purchase tickets, please click here.
Meredith Vieira and New York Women in Film & Television Screens “The Woman Who Wasn’t There”
By: ELLEN KEENAN-O’MALLEY
RPL is proud to announce that client Meredith Vieira will screen her newest documentary film, The Woman Who Wasn’t There, at the Quad Cinema opening on Friday, April 13, 2012. The documentary is a psychological thriller that goes inside the mind of history’s most infamous 9/11 survivor. Tania Head’s jaw-dropping tale of escape from the south tower was astounding: lauded as an inspiration and a dynamo by her peers, Tania suffered the tragic loss of her fiancée, Dave, fought her own demons and rose to national prominence when she became President of the World Trade Center Survivors’ Network—putting survivors on the map and on the road to recovery.
Tania asked director Angelo J. Guglielmo, Jr., to shoot a documentary about her group and they became great friends. She sat before his camera and gave a series of stunning interviews, recounting her journey in chilling detail. But while they were shooting a problem emerged: Tania was never in the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, and her entire story was an invention of her prodigious imagination. With complete access and participation from The Survivors’ Network, the story is told from a unique inside perspective that has yet to be seen and allows the audience to play detective and unravel the psychological mystery of Head’s magnificent tale. The documentary follows the rise of Tania, the unraveling of her story, the revelation of its fabrication, the reactions and repercussions from her closest colleagues, and it seeks to answer the one burning question that remains: who is Tania Head?
“The Afghans: Pictures of Resilience 2001-2011″ at the Council on Foreign Relations
RPL client Peter Bussian’s photo exhibit, “The Afghans: Pictures of Resilience 2001 – 2011,” will be on display at the Council on Foreign Relations though June 2012. Bussian first visited Afghanistan in 2001, obtaining official permission from members of the Taliban to “show the world the real Afghanistan.” He has returned to Afghanistan many times over the past decade and his photographs depict the day-to-day life of ordinary Afghans.
- Refugee Camp, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan) 2001
Bussian is a photographer, filmmaker and international development media consultant who has worked extensively in Afghanistan and other developing countries. His photographic work, which focuses on refugees and other international development subjects and issues, has been featured in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Paris-Match and Oprah, among other media. Bussian has also produced several documentary films on international development topics. In 2008, he was featured in Siddiq Barmak’s film Opium War, which was featured at several film festivals, including the Rome International Film Festival and was Afghanistan’s submission to the Academy Awards.
RPL Client Premieres New Television Series on Animal Planet
RPL congratulates its client Engel Entertainment on the premiere of “North Woods Law” this Friday on Animal Planet. This new “Critic’s Choice” series follows the elite Game Warden Service of Maine as the Wardens patrol more than 18 million acres of rugged terrain filled with wild animals and even wilder people. Catching poachers in undercover operations, busting drunk drivers on ATVs, tracking dangerous runaway bears, or performing intense search and rescue missions on remote mountaintops or in deep waters, the Game Wardens are on call night and day . . . and coming soon to a television near you. “North Woods Law” can be seen on Animal Planet on Friday nights starting March 16th at 9:00 PM ET (check local listings). RPL attorneys Helen D. Reavis, Nicole Page and Deena R. Merlen and associate Niki D. Cubides (J.D., admission pending) provided legal services in connection with this television series.
“Worth It… Not Worth It?” Scheduled for May Release
BY: Kate Thuma
RPL congratulates Jack Otter on his book, “Worth It … Not Worth It?: Simple & Profitable Answers to Life’s Tough Financial Questions,” scheduled for release May 1, 2012. Mr. Otter is the Executive Editor of CBS MoneyWatch.com , and has more than a decade of experience as a business journalist, having been on staff at Newsday, Dow Jones, and SmartMoney. He has also written for The Wall Street Journal, O magazine and The New Yorker, and has appeared on NBC’s Today, CBS’s The Early Show, CNN, CNBC, Fox Business and other programs to talk about personal finance and health topics. Mr. Otter’s book, which demystifies complex, real-world personal finance dilemmas and breaks the answers down into simple, “Do This/Not That” solutions, is published by Business Plus, an imprint of Grand Central Publishing, which is owned by Hachette Book Group (HBG), a division of Hachette Livre, the second-largest publisher in the world. HBG publishes under the divisions of Little, Brown and Company, Little Brown Books for Young Readers, and Grand Central Publishing, among others. Business Plus is one of the leading business book publishers in the world today, with such notable authors as Hank Paulson, Jack Welch, Ted Turner, Dr. Robert Sutton, Adam Lashinsky, and many more. RPL Attorney Deena R. Merlen represented Mr. Otter in this publishing matter.
RPL Client Produces Film about Laura Dekker, Youngest Sailor to Circumnavigate the Globe
BY: KATE THUMA
In the works: RPL client Jillian Schlesinger is producing and directing a film about Dutch teenager Laura Dekker titled “Maidentrip.” As described on www.maidentrip.com: “Laura Dekker was born on a boat, has sailed alone since she was six, and for as long as she can remember has dreamed of sailing around the world. At fourteen, after a long and public court battle with Dutch authorities, she won the right to set sail on a two year global odyssey that would make her the youngest person ever to complete a solo circumnavigation… Maidentrip intimately and creatively navigates Laura’s extraordinary life journey and her epic quest to both conquer the world and discover her place in it.”
Look for further announcements by RPL about this beautiful film!
More Nominations for The Redemption of General Butt Naked
Congratulations to RPL client Mad Monitor Productions and Daniele Anastasion and Eric Strauss, the directors and producers of “The Redemption of General Butt Naked,” as the award nominations keep rolling in. This outstanding film, which won the prize for Best Cinematography at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, was recently nominated for the Best Feature Award at the 2011 IDA Documentary Awards. The awards, given out by the International Documentary Association, will take place in Los Angeles on December 2nd and honor excellence in nonfiction filmmaking. The film also has been nominated for a 2011 Gotham Award and the Best Documentary Award at the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards.
RPL attorneys Deena R. Merlen, Helen D. (“Heidi”) Reavis and Nicole Page have been privileged to provide legal services for this remarkable documentary. For more information on the film, please see http://www.generalbuttnakedmovie.com/.