Even before 바카라The Dissident바카라 made its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, director Bryan Fogel had a sense that his explosive Jamal Khashoggi documentary was going to be a tough sell.
After a two-week run in about 200 theatres, 'The Dissident' will be available for rent on places like iTunes, Amazon and Roku.
Even before 바카라The Dissident바카라 made its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, director Bryan Fogel had a sense that his explosive Jamal Khashoggi documentary was going to be a tough sell.
The film was one of the most anticipated of last January's Sundance. Fogel's previous film, 바카라Icarus,바카라 about Russian doping in the Olympics, won the Academy Award for best documentary.
바카라The Dissident바카라 features audio recordings of Khashoggi's murder, the participation of Khashoggi's fiance, Hatice Cengiz, and details on Saudi hacking efforts, including the infiltration of the cellphone of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
The audience at Sundance included Hillary Clinton, Alec Baldwin and Reed Hastings, the Netflix chief executive.
At the screening, Fogel implored media companies not to be scared off.
바카라In my dream of dreams, distributors will stand up to Saudi Arabia,바카라 he said.
Riding in an SUV to the film's Sundance after-party, an upbeat Fogel said he was hopeful that Netflix, Amazon, HBO or others would step forward 바카라 anyone that could give the film a global platform for Khashoggi's story, which plays as a lethal, real-life geopolitical thriller in 바카라The Dissident.바카라
But the rough road ahead for 바카라The Dissident바카라 had already been signalled. None of the streamers 바카라 many of whom bought up Sundance's top films 바카라 had asked for an advance look at 바카라The Dissident바카라 before the festival -- something that could be expected for such a high-profile documentary from a filmmaker coming off an Oscar win.
바카라Many of the major streamers were actually there that day. Not their heads of content. Their CEOs. I would have hoped that would have led to: 'We're going to get behind this film.' But it didn't,바카라 said Fogel speaking by Zoom from Los Angeles last month.
바카라We didn't have an offer for USD 1 let alone USD 1 million 바카라 let alone the USD 12 million paid for 'Boys State', which is a wonderful film, but it's about 17-year-old boys playing mock politics in Texas.바카라
바카라The Dissident,바카라 set in a ruthlessly real political realm, will finally debut on-demand Friday. It was eventually acquired last spring, in a deal announced in September, by Briarcliff Entertainment, the independent distributor founded by Tom Ortenberg, the veteran film executive who distributed 바카라Spotlight바카라 and 바카라Snowden바카라 as chief executive of Open Road Films.
After a two-week run in about 200 theatres (scaled down from 800 due to the pandemic), 바카라The Dissident바카라 will be available for rent on places like iTunes, Amazon and Roku.
But the cool reception from larger media companies to 바카라The Dissident바카라 바카라 not because it wasn't good (it has a 97 per cent fresh Rotten Tomatoes rating from critics and a 99 per cent rating from audiences ) or important but because it openly challenges the Saudi regime's crackdown on free speech 바카라 raises questions about the future of political films on ever-larger and potentially increasingly risk-averse streaming services.
Netflix et al have played a vital role in exponentially growing audiences for documentaries. But in hunting globally for subscriber growth, media companies have sometimes capitulated to demands that border on censorship. In 2019, Netflix removed an episode of Hasan Minhaj's 바카라Patriot Act바카라 that condemned the cover-up of Khashoggi's murder after a Saudi complaint.
Last month, The New York Times reported Apple chief executive Tim Cook squashed an Apple TV+ series in development about Gawker. Negative depictions of China, for both old-line Hollywood studios and streamers, is typically off the table.