Steve Bannon Documentary ‘The Brink’ Acquired by Magnolia Pictures Ahead of Sundance
Alison Klayman directs film about former Trump official
Brian Welk | January 9, 2019 @ 2:54 PM
Last Updated: January 10, 2019 @ 1:21 PM
Fox News
“The Brink,” a documentary about former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon that follows him after his departure from the Trump administration, has been acquired by Magnolia Pictures for worldwide rights ahead of its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, the distributor announced Wednesday.
The film was added to the Sundance lineup earlier in the day. Alison Klayman (“Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry”) directs the film that’s described as a fly-on-the-wall look at Bannon in which Klayman got “unprecedented access.”
“The Brink” was co-financed with RYOT Films and is being planned for a theatrical release in spring of this year.
In “The Brink,” when Steve Bannon leaves his position at the White House less than a week after the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally in August 2017, he is notorious for having saved the Trump campaign and bringing a far-right ideology into the highest echelons of American politics. Now unconstrained by an official post, he is free to peddle influence as a perceived kingmaker – who some say still has a direct line to the White House – in an effort to turn his brand of nationalism into a global movement. The film follows Bannon through the 2018 mid-term elections in the United States and sheds light on his efforts to mobilize and unify far-right parties in order to win seats in the May 2019 European Parliamentary elections. To maintain his newfound power and influence, the former Goldman Sachs banker and media investor reinvents himself – as he has done many times before – this time as the self-appointed leader of a global “populist movement.” A keen manipulator of the press and gifted self-promoter, Bannon continues to draw headlines and protests wherever he goes, feeding the powerful myth on which his survival relies.
Magnolia has already acquired two other documentaries making its world premiere at the festival, “Hail Satan?” and “Ask Dr. Ruth,” the latter which the distributor picked up in partnership with Hulu.
This is the second documentary to arrive on Bannon in recent months, the other being the Errol Morris-directed “American Dharma,” which is still awaiting distribution.
Directed and filmed by Klayman, “The Brink” was produced by Marie Therese Guirgis and Klayman. Executive producers are Adam Bardach, Hayley Pappas, Bryn Mooser, and Matt Ippolito.
The deal was negotiated by Magnolia EVP Dori Begley and Magnolia SVP of Acquisitions John Von Thaden with RYOT Films COO Matt Ippolito, and Victoria Cook of Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz on behalf of the filmmakers.
11 Best Documentaries of 2018, From 'Minding the Gap' to 'Monrovia, Indiana' (Photos)
Documentaries managed to find an even broader audience this year, with streaming services like Netflix and Hulu doubling down on non-fiction, both as producers and distributors of new unscripted films and TV shows. But whether they screened in theaters, at home or at film festivals, these documentaries were the best of the best:
Focus Features/Hulu/Netflix
10. “Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood”:
Matt Tyrnauer’s portrait of legendary Tinseltown “procurer” Scotty Bowers had plenty of vintage show-biz dish, but it also raised interesting questions about who decides when and how LGBTQ history is “appropriate” to share with the masses.
Greenwich Entertainment
9. “Hale County This Morning, This Evening”:
Equal parts visual poem and ethnographic documentary, RaMell Ross’ debut film examines a handful of residents of the titular Alabama county as his camera turns quotidian moments into something breathtaking and magical.
Louverture Films
8. “Bathtubs Over Broadway”:
Besides providing a fascinating glimpse into the industrial musical -- elaborate song-and-dance extravaganzas mounted by companies like Xerox or Purina to excite their sales teams -- this film follows one collector’s journey from snarky outside observer to fan, champion, and archivist.
Focus World
7. “Monrovia, Indiana”:
Frederick Wiseman, arguably our greatest living documentarian, takes his camera to the Midwest and reveals more truths about the American heartland than a dozen New York Times let’s-talk-to-Trump’s-base think-pieces.
Zipporah Films
6. “That Way Madness Lies”:
Sandra Luckow’s portrait of her brother Duanne’s battles with mental health issues -- and the impact they have had on their entire family -- feels almost painfully intimate at times, focusing on the helplessness that people can feel as they watch a loved one disappear into disorder and exposing the shortcomings of the public health system to deal with such crises.
First Run Features
5. “Jane Fonda in Five Acts”:
The on-screen and off-screen life of this iconic actress and activist sweeps through a fascinating chunk of modern American history in this compelling documentary from director Susan Lacy (working with the blueprint laid out by Fonda’s 2006 memoir).
HBO
4. “Three Identical Strangers”:
The tale of triplets separated at birth and reunited as adults is a fascinating enough story, but it’s just the first act of a family saga so bizarre and tragic that no novelist could ever invent it. Tim Wardle recounts this yarn with grace.
Neon
3. (tie) “They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead”/ “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”:
The great Morgan Neville (“20 Feet From Stardom,” “Best of Enemies”) scored two of the year’s best docs with looks at two exceedingly different cultural figures: the cantankerous Orson Welles and the thoroughly kind and empathetic Fred Rogers.
Focus Features/Netflix
2. “Shirkers”:
Sandi Tan retraces the path to her own lost indie feature film from decades ago, discovering uncomfortable truths about her collaborators and herself along the way. She pulls no punches as she confronts both her own work and her own past.
Netflix
1. “Minding the Gap”:
Bing Liu turns the camera on himself and his lifelong friends (all avid skateboarders) to uncover the pain in their childhoods and to explore new directions toward healing themselves and each other as adults. It’s an emotional knockout that offers a much-needed jolt of hope.
Hulu
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TheWrap’s Best & Worst of 2018: Critic Alonso Duralde picks the best non-fiction films that span a gamut of styles and stories
Documentaries managed to find an even broader audience this year, with streaming services like Netflix and Hulu doubling down on non-fiction, both as producers and distributors of new unscripted films and TV shows. But whether they screened in theaters, at home or at film festivals, these documentaries were the best of the best: