News

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Netflix Junkie just recommended Forgetting Dad. The reviewer Ipshita Chakraborty writes: "Some stories not only provoke thoughts but also preserve the introspective pain of loss and oblivion. Forgetting Dad is one such story that invites audiences into a narrative wash of memory, identity, and time as one man's life was turned around in an accident. For this 2008 documentary, that is not just backstory but an emotional heft still resonating in the streaming era of 2025." It's great to see that such an "old" film is still reaching new audiences.

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Head "Strait Guy" George Koumal always dreamed that his passion project to link Asia and North America via the world's longest train tunnel under the Bering Strait would one day go viral. Now it has. Last Friday, Kirill Dmitriev, President Vladimir Putin's investment envoy and head of Russia's RDIF sovereign wealth fund tweeted about the tunnel, and suggested that Elon Musk's The Boring Company should build it. The post also included a photograph of a drawing of the proposed link from Kennedy and Khrushchev's discussions about it during the 1960s. Immediately, Reuters picked up the story, which quickly made its way around the

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Elena de Varda, the CEO of the Italian film production company Filmlux, recently interviewed me for the company's YouTube Channel. Elena and I met this past May at the Cannes Film Festival, and I have been helping her a bit with her ambitious new film "Canaletto, the Fabulous Journey", which she will partially shoot here in Germany in and around Dresden. In our conversation, I talk about my two most recent film The Presidents' Tailor and The Strait Guys, both of which are available at the links above. Enjoy!

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We are thrilled to announce that The Strait Guys is one of only thirty films selected for the launch of the new filmmaker-friendly VOD platform Olyn. Through Olyn's affiliate program, you can become a Strait Guys ambassador and earn a 20% commission ($2!) on every purchase made through your unique link. So help us share the Strait Guys' vision of connecting the world by rail and sign up here today!

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I'm thrilled to announce that I am off to the Marché du Film in Cannes. I was in Cannes once before as a young man traveling around Europe, but this is the first time I will be going there to attend the legendary film festival and to shop around my current projects at the market. I will be in Cannes from May 15-20, and can be reached by phone/WhatsApp at: +49-179-7911131. Let's get together! P.S. The photo is of me checking out the handprints of French actor Jean-Pierre Léaud, who is best known as Antoine Doinel in François Truffaut's The 400

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We are excited to announce that The Strait Guys is now available on VOD through the expertly-curated documentary-only platform GuideDoc. GuideDoc is a filmmaker-friendly platform featuring over 2000 of the best documentaries from around the world, including Rick's 2008 film Forgetting Dad. Each day one new film is added to the platform. For a monthly subscription of €7.99, you can watch as many great documentaries as you wish. GuideDoc offers a 30% discount on annual subscriptions. All subscriptions can be cancelled at any time. Please support independent documentary filmmaking by watching them on GuideDoc. Thanks!

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Now's your chance to help us preserve Martin Greenfield's legacy and get your name in the credits of The Presidents' Tailor. Everyone who makes a tax-deductible donation of $1000 or more by January 6, 2025 will be listed as a "Distribution Angel" in the film end credits, on the official film website, and on IMDB, and will be given a social media shoutout. So get your name in the credits before our upcoming screening at the Miami Jewish Film Festival on January 13th. Thanks! Make your donation here!

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Rick will be showing excerpts from his work-in-progress "Searching for Lenin's Head" – the sequel to his 1996 short film "The Book of Lenins" – and discuss how his excavation of the head of the Berlin Lenin statue in 1994 continues to make headlines today. The presentation will be in German, and will take place at the Max-Lingner-Haus (Beatrice-Zweig-Str. 2, 13056 Berlin-Pankow) at 7 p.m. on December 4, 2024, and will be streamed live on YouTube.

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"The Presidents' Tailor" won the Special Jury Award (Short) at the Workers Unite Film Festival in New York City. It's a special honor to receive this prize from a festival which spotlights films about labor issues. Martin Greenfield ran Greenfield Clothiers as as a union shop and cared deeply about the welfare of his workers. Now his sons Jay and Tod and grandson David are continuing in his tradition. So this award really goes to the Greenfields and everyone at Greenfield Clothiers. Thanks for all your excellent work!

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Rick will be presenting "The Big Thaw" at Berlin Science Week on November 10, 2024. The event is free and open to the public. Details here. During his talk, Rick will show photos and film clips and tell stories about his adventures filming with the four atmospheric scientists from the #ARCSPIN expedition in and around Utqiagvik, Alaska – the northernmost point of the United States.