''Horns and Halos,'' a 2002
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...
directed by
Suki Hawley
Suki Hawley is an American indie filmmaker and a partner in the production and distribution company RUMUR. Either solo or with Michael Galinsky, she has directed low-budget fictional narratives but has mostly concentrated on documentaries in rec ...
and
Michael Galinsky
Michael Galinsky (born 1969) is an American filmmaker, cinematographer, photographer, and musician who has produced and directed a number of documentaries, several of them in collaboration with his now-wife, Suki Hawley. With their partner David ...
, is primarily about the difficult road the author (
James Hatfield
James Howard Hatfield (January 7, 1958 – July 18, 2001) was an American author.
''Fortunate Son'' and controversy
Hatfield was the author of ''Fortunate Son'', a book published in 1999 during the George W. Bush presidential campaign, 2000 ...
) and publisher (Sander Hicks at
Soft Skull Press
Counterpoint LLC was a publishing company distributed by Perseus Books Group launched in 2007. It was formed from the consolidation of three presses: Perseus' Counterpoint Press, Avalon Publishing Group's Shoemaker & Hoard and the independent So ...
) travelled to bring
''Fortunate Son'', a controversial
biography
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...
of
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
to bookshelves again. The film began when the filmmakers got a press release saying that Sander Hicks would be republishing the discredited bio. They followed the process of trying to bring the book back to shelves. After seeing the film at the Rotterdam Film Festival Matthew Tempest wrote in the Guardian, "With stunning revelations of presidential misdeeds, and the Watergate-style forces at hand to see the book is discredited, this documentary is a rolling masterclass on the disturbing complicity of media, money and mendacity.
"
The final day of shooting on the documentary followed Sander Hicks as he moved out of the basement he had squatted as an office of his publishing company. The move out date was Sept 10, 2001. The film had its first screening at the Rotterdam Film Festival in February 2002. It played a number of small festivals and was then invited to play at the Toronto Film Festival. The filmmakers self-distributed the film getting it qualified for Oscar consideration and it was shortlisted for that award. It played theatrically in over 25 cities in the US.
References
External links
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Article about ''Horns and Halos''at ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
''
Horns and Halos on Vimeo on Demand
2002 films
American documentary films
Films about George W. Bush
Documentary films about writers
2002 documentary films
Documentary films about American politics
2000s English-language films
2000s American films
English-language documentary films
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