Jazz critics, academics, Clive Davis and Kenny G fans are featured throughout the docu, part of HBO’s Music Box series. “There’s not many artists I could have approached with this concept and gotten an enthusiastic ‘Yes,’ like I did from Kenny.”
“One of the reasons that I thought Kenny would be perfect for this project is that he has a sense of humor, and he has a sense of humor about himself. In the film, the helmer chronicles the saxophonist’s rise to fame while also, humorously exploring the backlash his easy-listening, smooth jazz provoked and continues to provoke in so many listeners. for the doc “Listening to Kenny G” was not a problem for director Penny Lane. “The first year and a half (of making the film) was like a scavenger hunt amongst international news stories where we could find two different angles from the same event, but one was from CNN and one was from a Thai local news source.”įinding archival footage of Kenny G. “We had never made a film before where we weren’t present for the actual events,” explains Vasarhelyi, who tracked down never-before-seen Thai Navy Seals footage shot within the cave. But unlike “Free Solo,” their latest docu “The Rescue” relied heavily on archival materials. Garbus, who has launched many of her films at Sundance, says that “Telluride is an extraordinary weekend of cinema and largely a premiere event for America, while TIFF is really a global launch.”īack in 2018, Vasarhelyi and Chin’s “Free Solo” screened at TIFF. So, I hate to overload our section with films that have already had great opportunities but, there are certain films every year that really stand out to us that we want to bring to Toronto’s audiences.”
“And there’s so many films that are looking for those opportunities. “For the most part, we’re looking for films that are having world or North American premieres,” Powers says. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin (“Free Solo”) about the 2018 rescue of 12 Thai boys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave and “RBG” directors Julie Cohen and Betsy West’s “Julia” about the unlikely television star and chef, Julia Child. The documentary lineup will also include three films that just had their world premieres at Telluride: Liz Garbus’ National Geographic film “Becoming Cousteau” about the French sea explorer “ The Rescue” from Oscar winning directors E.
“But ‘Flee’ is also a rare film and that was what won me over this year.” “It’s extremely rare for us to show something that has already premiered in such a strong spotlight at Sundance,” says Powers. “Flee,” told mostly through animation, earned the grand jury prize in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at Sundance and was acquired by Neon, who partnered with Participant to distribute the doc in North America.