THE 50 YEAR ARGUMENT Opens @ The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

Originally Posted on January 23, 2015

Toronto – The 50 Year Argument, Academy Award nominee Martin Scorsese and long-time documentary collaborator David Tedeschi’s film about The New York Review of Books, opens in Toronto at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema on Friday, January 23.

The film explores literary, political and cultural history as charted by the influential publication, the leading journal of ideas for over 50 years.

“I have learned so much over the years from The New York Review of Books – it’s given me so much that I jumped at the chance to make this film,” said Scorsese. “And David and I both welcomed the challenge of making a film that reflected what is so unique about the Review, really, a film about the adventure of thought, and, as Colm Toibin puts it, the sensuality of ideas. I hope we succeeded.”

The 50 Year Argument weaves rare archival material, original vérité footage filmed in the Review’s WestVillage offices, contributor interviews and portraits by celebrated photographer Brigitte Lacombe, along with excerpts from the work of its best writers:

Mary McCarthy travels to Saigon during the Vietnam War to argue against the American presence there. Gore Vidal and Norman Mailer battle over feminism. Michael Greenberg chronicles the anger and frustration of the Occupy Wall Street Movement. Joan Didion reads from her searing article about youths wrongly convicted in the 1989 Central Park Jogger case.

“When we started the paper, we weren’t seeking to be part of an establishment,” says long-time NYRB editor Robert Silvers. “We were seeking quite the opposite…to examine the workings and truthfulness of establishments, whether political or cultural.”

The 50 Year Argument is a Blue Ice Docs presentation; a production of BBC Arena, Sikelia Productions and WOWOW in association with Verdi Productions and Magna Entertainment; edited by Paul Marchand and Michael J. Palmer; cinematography by Lisa Rinzler; portraits by Brigitte Lacombe; supervising producer, Mikaela Beardsley; executive producer for BBC Arena, Anthony Wall; executive producers for WOWOW, Hajime Hashimoto and Kayo Washio; executive producers, Chad and Michelle Verdi and Joshua Sason; produced by Margaret Bodde, David Tedeschi and Martin Scorsese; directed by Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi.

Please visit film website for more info on the film

Comments are closed.