This Revolution (with reviews)

Official Selection: Sundance, Taos, Milan, Munich, Santa Cruz, Chicago Underground, Rome International, Whistler, True/False, Nuremberg International Human Rights FF.

Synopsis

In 1969, Academy Award winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler exploded the boundaries of American verite cinema with his quasi-fictional masterpiece, Medium Cool. Set against the chaotic and hyper-politicized backdrop of the 1968 Democratic National Convention, Wexler’s narrative effectively blurred the lines between reality and fiction, forcing viewers to question the responsibility media has to its audience and the society as a whole.

Thirty years later, as anti-Bush activists and the New York police force prepared for their encounter on the streets outside the 2004 Republican National Convention, director Stephen Marshall took his cast and crew, including stars Rosario Dawson and Nathan Crooker, into the chaos. With Entertainment Tonight and New York Daily News in tow, the shoot was interrupted when six NYPD officers pulled up in a van and arrested Dawson and Marshall mistaking them for Black Bloc anarchists.

Conceived as a low-budget, hi-impact verite thriller for the political set, This Revolution, was developed, written, cast, shot (on 24P DV) and edited in 100 days, just in time for the Sundance deadline. The story follows Jake Cassevetes (Nathan Crooker), a network war shooter just back from Iraq who is assigned to cover the run-up to the RNC. When he meets and falls in love with Tina Santiago (Rosario Dawson), a young mother widowed after her husband was killed in Iraq, Jake is forced to question his world view. But it is not until he discovers his network has given his videotape of an anarchist Black Bloc group to Homeland Security that Jake decides to take action.

This Revolution had its world premiere at Sundance 2005. It was also an official selection of the True/False Festival where director Stephen Marshall won the True Vision Award.

Read director Stephen Marshall’s Production Journal, published in the April 2005 issue of The Independent.

Festival Reviews/Coverage

“Medium Cool, is the model for Stephen Marshall’s This Revolution, shot at the Republican National Convention in New York and completed in an amazing 100 days. It’s the kind of engaged, political filmmaking that is rarely seen today, and it’s a welcome and powerful addition to the canon.” – Hollywood Reporter

“This Revolution just might be the sleeper hit with the most robust in-your-face message at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.” – Agence France Press

“[Rosario Dawson’s] character in This Revolution differs from the Verna Bloom character in Medium Cool in being political, radical, and vocal. She delivers one of the movie’s key speeches, articulating the argument against Bush and the war in Iraq. Apart from what she says, we sense that she understands and believes it, and is generating it. Some actors are hopeless with political speeches, obviously only delivering the dialogue. With Dawson’s Tina, we feel she’s speaking spontaneously.” – Roger Ebert

“Marshall skillfully segues his extensive documentary experience into a narrative yarn, not only incorporating actual protest footage, but also using actors to deliver the real news surrounding those events.” – IndieWire

“It’s rare to see a feature film that isn’t cynically conceived as a product, that isn’t designed solely for maximum acceptance in the marketplace, that proudly articulates a radical political analysis. Integrating radical analysis into its plotline, This Revolution celebrates high-level culture jamming, makes heros out of those who stand up against a profit-blindered media machine, and sets an example by depicting characters living the values they articulate, without compromise, and ultimately, without fear.” – Mark Achbar, director: The Corporation

“[Sundance] matters because it allows you to watch movies — like This Revolution — that attack American consumerist, imperialist and neoconservative values in a place where SUVs seem to outnumber people.” – Toronto Star

Collateral Coverage

Hollywood Reporter profiles Stephen Marshall
IPop
Chicago Tribune
NOW Magazine profiles Amy Redford
Toronto Star profiles This Revolution
Park Record
IMDB (cast pic)

Credits

Starring Nathan Crooker, Rosario Dawson, and Amy Redford

Writer/Director Stephen Marshall

Exec Prods Bob Jason, Bob Kravitz

Producer Lisa Kawamoto Hsu

DP Brian Jackson

Posted by silverback
Co-founder of GNN. Music video and feature film director. Co-author of "True Lies." Director/shooter of "BattleGround." Arrested at the RNC shooting first narrative feature "This Revolution." New projects: A book, "Wolves in Sheep's Clothing: The New Liberal Menace in America," out now. A feature doc, "HolyWars," will be completed in Spring '08.