Halflife Films first feature documentary AMERICAN: The Bill Hicks Story brought the amazing tale of one of modern culture’s most iconic heroes to the big screen. Co-produced/directed with Paul Thomas of Jackamo TV, it had its World Premiere at London Film Festival 2009, it's US premiere at SXSW 2010, and was the 2nd highest grossing theatrical documentary in the UK that year, was released on 3 continents and won several awards from festivals worldwide.
‘American’ was broadcast in the UK on BBC4 in Aug 2011 and was Pick of the Day/Critics Choice in
The Sunday Times, Observer, Radio Times and Time Out.
International festival run – selected for 27 international festivals incl. SheffDocFest, Glasgow, True/False, SXSW, Dallas, HotDocs, Seattle, Boston IFF, Biografilm Bologna.
International theatrical run - ’American’ was released across 30+ UK cities on May 14th 2010, and was Mark Kermode's Film of The Week on BBC 5Live. It played 35 cities in the US in April 2011, and sold out a 3 week run in Sydney and the ACMI in Melbourne in Australia.
Reviews for American
“Fascinating” Variety
“Groundbreaking” Hollywood Reporter
“Utterly inspiring...flawless” Maxim
“Fantastic....incredibly entertaining” Aint It Cool News
“Nothing short of astounding” Time Out
“The most visually inventive bio-doc ever - a kinetic masterpiece” The Observer
Rotten Tomatoes Top Films of 2011 – no.4 in this well respected reviews aggregator.
Currently no.6 in iTunes All Time BestSellers Docs Chart.
Top 10 films of 2010 Lists
• www.cinemablend.com – Top 10 Movies Of 2010
• IndiePixFilms
• Yourturnheather
• ScreengrabX
IMDB rating of 8.2 out of 10, putting American in the top 50 best docs of all time.
Best Documentary Awards or nominations from:
Dallas International Film Festival – WINNER Best Doc
Grierson Awards, UK – Most Entertaining Documentary (nom)
Glasgow - Evening Times '5 Best of the Fest'
Cinema Eye Awards, NY – Best Graphics (nom)
Little Rock Film festival – WINNER Best Doc
Downtown LA Film Festival – WINNER Best Doc
Biografilm Bologna, Italy – WINNER Best Doc
Focal International Awards – Best Use of Archive (nom)
US theatrical release A radical day-and-date VOD release strategy in 25 cities across the US & Canada in April 2011, in partnership with Variance Films and Gravitas Ventures. Driven by amazing press reviews:
• “fascinating – we can see why he was glorious” The New Yorker Magazine
• “thought-provoking, heartbreaking, and hilarious” NBC.com
• “incredibly inspirational…deeply moving” IFC News
• “Excellent doc…great exploration of the man” Huffington Post
Top 10 on iTunes Docs & Indy charts top 10 chart for 2 months from release now seeing significant VOD revenues.
Top Films of 2011 – IndieWire and Sydney Morning Herald’s end of year ‘Best of…’ lists
FILM STILLS
FESTIVALS & THEATRICAL RELEASE
Full list of festivals played:
London Film Festival - World Premiere (nomination for Best First Film)
Sheffield DocFest
Glasgow IFF
Belfast FF
Revelations, Perth IFF
IFI Stranger Than Fiction, Dublin
True/False - St Louis, Missouri
SXSW, Austin (US Premiere)
Dallas IFF (WINNER)
HotDocs, Toronto
Just For Laughs, Montreal (special presentation)
Indianapolis Film Festival
New Orleans IFF
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Sydney Underground Film Festival
San Francisco DocFest
WorldFest, Houston
Little Rock (WINNER)
Seattle IFF
Independent FF, Boston
Downtown LA (WINNER)
Edmonton IFF, Canada
Branchage Film Festival, Jersey
Friars Club Film Festival, NewYork
Biografilm Bologna (WINNER)
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival