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Bryan Fogel’s work was cut out for him when he chose to direct a follow-up to Icarus, his 2017 deep dive into sports doping and the elaborate system of cheating among Russian Olympians. That film closed with a cliff-hanger. Having turned whistleblower mid-film, Grigory Rodchenkov, the architect of the state-sanctioned doping program, fled Russia and was in hiding stateside. To continue to tell his story, the challenge for Fogel lay not just in the artistic shadow cast by his vividly told Oscar winner. Complicating the making of a sequel was a crucial constraint: To protect the safety of the documentary’s central figure, Fogel wouldn’t be able to interact with him directly.
The solution was to embed a single cameraperson, producer Jake Swantko, with Rodchenkov and his security team. Tracking his life on the lam for nearly five years, Icarus: The Aftermath...
Bryan Fogel’s work was cut out for him when he chose to direct a follow-up to Icarus, his 2017 deep dive into sports doping and the elaborate system of cheating among Russian Olympians. That film closed with a cliff-hanger. Having turned whistleblower mid-film, Grigory Rodchenkov, the architect of the state-sanctioned doping program, fled Russia and was in hiding stateside. To continue to tell his story, the challenge for Fogel lay not just in the artistic shadow cast by his vividly told Oscar winner. Complicating the making of a sequel was a crucial constraint: To protect the safety of the documentary’s central figure, Fogel wouldn’t be able to interact with him directly.
The solution was to embed a single cameraperson, producer Jake Swantko, with Rodchenkov and his security team. Tracking his life on the lam for nearly five years, Icarus: The Aftermath...
- 9/12/2022
- by Sheri Linden
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
You could, rightly, characterize director Bryan Fogel’s Academy Award-winning documentary “Icarus” as the product of dumb luck. It began as one film — a “Super Size Me”-type concept whereby Fogel, a cycling enthusiast, attempted to expose the ease of illegal doping by injecting himself with steroids — that became an arresting investigation into Russia’s decades-long use of performance-enhancing drugs, with the colorful Grigory Rodchenkov, head of the country’s anti-doping laboratory, as the primary whistleblower. With Rodchenkov’s testimony, Fogel made the pervasive rot of Russian sports into an enthralling piece of storytelling.
And yet, despite its envelope-pushing search for the truth, “Icarus” ended as almost all documentaries do: The audience’s eyes are opened and the subject who did the revealing fades into the background. Toward the end of the film, Rodchenkov’s lawyer, Jim Walden, appears to explain that his client is now in hiding, dodging the Russian government’s hit squads.
And yet, despite its envelope-pushing search for the truth, “Icarus” ended as almost all documentaries do: The audience’s eyes are opened and the subject who did the revealing fades into the background. Toward the end of the film, Rodchenkov’s lawyer, Jim Walden, appears to explain that his client is now in hiding, dodging the Russian government’s hit squads.
- 9/2/2022
- by Robert Daniels
- Indiewire
The 10th annual Atlanta Underground Film Festival, held back on October 16-20, have released their impressive list of award winners, which includes 22 films.
The Best Feature award went to Dane Dakota’s Alex Dreaming, a comedy/drama about a Vietnam veteran who may or may not be imagining that assassins want to kill him. The Best Documentary Feature, Stephen Graves’s A Body Without Organs, previously won the Most Visionary Award earlier this year at the Chicago Underground Film Festival.
The Best Comedy Feature went to Jerzy Rose’s Crimes Against Humanity; while J.R. Hughto’s Diamond on Vinyl took home the Best Drama Feature award.
Lots of short films took awards, too, including Kurt Dettbarn’s Sad Monster for Best Short Film; Grey Wears’s Cereal Mascots Trix Rabbit for Best Animated Short; and Kevin Lonano’s awesome Space Dracula for Best Experimental Short. You can watch Space Dracula...
The Best Feature award went to Dane Dakota’s Alex Dreaming, a comedy/drama about a Vietnam veteran who may or may not be imagining that assassins want to kill him. The Best Documentary Feature, Stephen Graves’s A Body Without Organs, previously won the Most Visionary Award earlier this year at the Chicago Underground Film Festival.
The Best Comedy Feature went to Jerzy Rose’s Crimes Against Humanity; while J.R. Hughto’s Diamond on Vinyl took home the Best Drama Feature award.
Lots of short films took awards, too, including Kurt Dettbarn’s Sad Monster for Best Short Film; Grey Wears’s Cereal Mascots Trix Rabbit for Best Animated Short; and Kevin Lonano’s awesome Space Dracula for Best Experimental Short. You can watch Space Dracula...
- 11/8/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The Atlanta Underground Film Festival celebrates a decade of being in the business of bringing great alternative cinema to the South. The 10th edition of the fest runs Oct. 16-20 and is screening an eclectic mix of feature films and loads of shorts.
Some of the feature include the voyeuristic drama Diamond on Vinyl by J.R. Hughto; the oddball consipracy of Crimes Against Humanity by Jerzy Rose; the rockin’ documentary Discoverdale by George Kane; the Christian shame of Bhoner by Frank Anderson and Colin Shields; the medical documentary A Body Without Organs by Stephen Graves; and more.
Short films are organized in blocks for comedy, drama, experimental and the always popular Animation Attack!.
The full film lineup is below. For more info, please visit the festival’s official website.
October 16
6:30 p.m.: Diamond on Vinyl, dir. J.R. Hughto. A complete stranger attempts to heal the shattered relationship between a formerly engaged couple.
Some of the feature include the voyeuristic drama Diamond on Vinyl by J.R. Hughto; the oddball consipracy of Crimes Against Humanity by Jerzy Rose; the rockin’ documentary Discoverdale by George Kane; the Christian shame of Bhoner by Frank Anderson and Colin Shields; the medical documentary A Body Without Organs by Stephen Graves; and more.
Short films are organized in blocks for comedy, drama, experimental and the always popular Animation Attack!.
The full film lineup is below. For more info, please visit the festival’s official website.
October 16
6:30 p.m.: Diamond on Vinyl, dir. J.R. Hughto. A complete stranger attempts to heal the shattered relationship between a formerly engaged couple.
- 10/16/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
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