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Exclusive: Strike Back Studios has acquired U.S. distribution rights to The United States of Insanity, directed by Tom Putnam & Brenna Sanchez. The deal for the documentary, about the rap group Insane Clown Posse and its die-hard fans — known as Juggalos — fighting back against the fans being classified as a gang organization by the FBI a decade ago, comes as the feature is readying for its world premiere at Fantastic Fest.

Directed by Directed by Tom Putnam & Brenna Sanchez (Burn), the film centers on Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope, the rappers who make up “the World’s Most Hated Band,” who find themselves as unwitting warriors for the First Amendment. With the help of the ACLU, which filed a federal lawsuit against the FBI, the band fights to uncover the reasons behind the designation and to be removed from the gang list as their fans begin losing their jobs,...

“Pari,” the story of an Iranian mother’s search for her missing son in Athens, directed by Siamak Etemadi, an Iranian who lives in Greece, won the top feature film prize at the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival, an annual showcase for Greek cinema that wrapped its fifteenth edition on May 30.

“Parontes,” under its English title “Being Present,” a penetrating look at the Covid-19 crisis in Greece (pictured above), directed by Yorgos Avgeropoulos, took home Lagff’s documentary honor.

The waning pandemic once again prevented Lagff from holding its traditional red carpet closing night and Orpheus Awards Gala, but it didn’t dampen the international enthusiasm for the virtual event, which reached a global audience via the internet and spotlighted features, shorts, documentaries and – for the first time this year – animation. It also presented a series of webinars as well as live and prerecorded Q&As.

Artistic and Festval Director...

Symbolically speaking, I wouldn’t be out of line if I compared Motor city as a sister city to Damascus. If you group docs in Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s Detropia, Brenna Sanchez and Tom Putnam’s Burn, and next in line Street Fighting Man, this is one city that is hurting real bad. Andrew James might be know to docuphiles for his 2009, Tiff preemed Cleanfix, and directly after this he found a trio of justice seeking protagonists for what will have been a half decade odyssey to fruition. It began with a successful Kickstarter campaign and has since found support from: the Hot Docs Pitch Forum, Film Independent, the Independent Filmmaker Project (Ifp), the San Francisco Film Society, and of course, the Sundance Institute. Don’t be surprised if Sundance programmers make a citizen’s arrest on this item.

Gist: In a new America where the promise of education,...

This article by Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez about the distribution of their Detroit firefighter documentary Burn originally appeared in our Fall, 2013 print edition. It is appearing online for the first time. “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” — Mark Twain As filmgoers are increasingly flooded with new media options to keep them at home, the prevailing theory is that the days of theatrical releases for independent films are in their last slow throes. We disagree because we just spent the last year filling 300- to 2,000-seat theaters in 170 cities with our firefighter documentary Burn. We […]...

This article by Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez about the distribution of their Detroit firefighter documentary Burn originally appeared in our Fall, 2013 print edition. It is appearing online for the first time. “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” — Mark Twain As filmgoers are increasingly flooded with new media options to keep them at home, the prevailing theory is that the days of theatrical releases for independent films are in their last slow throes. We disagree because we just spent the last year filling 300- to 2,000-seat theaters in 170 cities with our firefighter documentary Burn. We […]...

The distribution landscape is changing — fast. So, on April 21st, we gathered a panel of experts at our monthly Doc U series to discuss the rapidly shifting world of theatrical distribution in the first of a two-part series on distribution. Alexandra Johnes (The Square) moderated a conversation with Peter Goldwyn (Samuel Goldwyn Films), James Shapiro (Drafthouse Films), Michael Kananack (Gathr Films), and Brenna Sanchez (Burn) who covered the crucial role that theatrical exhibition can play in a documentary’s overall distribution plan. We’ve distilled their talk into digestible bits ...

"You're tackling this thing like it's some kind of dragon - and we don't really lose too often." Today's indie trailer is for a documentary simply titled Burn about the crumbling city of Detroit as seen through the eyes of "the most overworked and worst-funded fire department" in our country. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last year and earned some rave reviews. This not only looks like a good insider story, but some of the footage is amazing - those shots inside burning buildings and powerful moments captured. Before today I had never heard about this, but it does look like a must see documentary no matter what city you're from. Watch the official trailer for Tom Putnam & Brenna Sanchez's doc Burn, in high def from Apple: From executive producer Denis Leary, this riveting and inspiring documentary film spends a year with Detroit firefighters, who are charged...

The Sundance Institute's distribution and marketing arm Artist Services will digitally debut four upcoming independent films. Beginning June 18, titles will be available everywhere from iTunes, Amazon and Microsoft Xbox to SundanceNOW. The four films are internationally bound documentaries "Miss Gulag" and "High Tech, Low Life" as well as a film from the 2012 Sundance Film Festival: Erin Greenwell's narrative feature "My Best Day" and Detroit firefighter doc "Burn," directed by Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez, which came to Artist Services under the auspices of Find's filmmaker program; it premiered at Tribeca in 2012. More details over at Sundance here. Since launching in January 2011, Artist Services has been expanding and reshaping itself as an alternative distribution platform by continually making new titles digitally available for audiences and forming partnerships with Cinedigm and non-profit Film Independent, among others (read our Toh analysis from...

TBS and TNT announced on Wednesday that they are about to become the first national networks to live stream on-air content across multiple platforms 24/7.

The networks made the announcement during TNT and TBS's annual upfront presentation in New York, noting that their content will be streamed through their websites and a pair of newly created apps: Watch TNT and Watch TBS.

"Starting this summer, subscribers will be able to watch TBS and TNT live –- anytime, anywhere, on multiple devices," Steve Koonin, president of Turner Entertainment Networks, told the upfront audience. Additional platforms for TBS and TNT's live streaming will be added by the end of the year.

TNT's coverage of the NBA games, TBS's coverage of Major League Baseball and both network's coverage of the Ncaa will be available for live streaming as well.

Audiences will soon have the opportunity to watch some new content from some...

While sister network TBS continues to invest in talk shows and scripted comedies, TNT remains all about drama (one might say they... know it). Following their trusty formula, ampersand series "Franklin & Bash" and "Rizzoli & Isles" are even being joined by a new model, the Jon Tenney and Rebecca Romijn crime show "King & Maxwell." But the network's development slate does have some interesting and less by the book projects on it, particularly "Burn," an unscripted series about Detroit firefighters that comes from filmmakers Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez. The pair directed a 2012 documentary on the subject, also entitled "Burn," which won an Audience Award at Tribeca last year and was nominated for another at the Gothams. "Burn" the TV series is being executive produced by Denis Leary, who also executive produced the film -- having played a firefighter for seven years on "Rescue Me," it's a realm he surely knows well.

We already know TNT is bringing Sean Bean, Eric Dane, and the mind of Frank Darabont back to our TVs, but at today’s Turner Upfront, TNT and TBS announced some more big names developing potential shows for the networks — including Steven Spielberg, Sylvester Stallone, Steve Carell, Jamie Foxx, Elizabeth Banks, Diablo Cody, Denis Leary, Dick Wolf, and Nicholas Sparks. The loglines:

TNT Scripted Series:

• Portal House: This project is the story of a group of young scientists who, while investigating what they believe to be a haunted house, stumble upon a portal into the time-space continuum. Things then take...

Putnam and Sanchez Help Fight Detroit’s Inferno

It’s no secret that the Motor City is in a state of concentrated shock. The decline of domestic industry has left Detroit but a shell of it’s former self. Roughly 80,000 empty structures currently stand within the city’s borders. Blue collar neighborhoods once bustling with the activity of free flowing middle class cash is now a spotty network of impoverished citizens left to fend for themselves in a boarded up ghost town. Thanks to the thousands of empty tinderboxes and innumerable arsonists, about thirty of these buildings ignite each day – insanely high numbers for a city with a shrinking population of 713,000 and a bare bones firefighting force struggling in the face of flames with failing equipment and widespread budgetary restraints. With Burn, docu-directors Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez survey Detroit’s fire situation and give thanks to the city’s...

Rating: 4.5/5.0

Chicago – Detroit, Michigan has more fires every year than any other city in the United States. As the city’s population dwindles (from 1.8 million in 1950 to just over 710k in 2010), people are burning what’s left behind to the tune of 30,000 fire calls a year. Executive produced by Denis Leary, the stellar documentary “Burn,” opening in Detroit and Chicago today, offers viewers a chance to spend a year in a Motown firehouse and the result is riveting filmmaking that both captures the personalities on the truck and the larger issues at play in a city on fire.

Directors Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez structure “Burn” in a brilliant way, allowing viewers not just access to life behind the fire hose but to make personal connections with these men who act against the human instinct to run away from the flames. The first thing one notices about the film is...

There must not be too many happy faces at the Detroit Chamber of Commerce these days. Arriving shortly on the heels of the scathing documentary Detropia is Burn, Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez’s film detailing the heroic efforts of Detroit firefighters to combat the rising tide of conflagrations plaguing the troubled metropolis. Story: Detropia: Sundance Film Review The documentary, winner of the Audience Award at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival and subtitled One Year on the Front Lines of the Battle to Save Detroit, chronicles the year-long efforts of Engine Company 50. Located on the city’s east side, the

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A news item about a tragedy in Detroit got them started, and by the time they were finished—three years and 1,000 hours of footage later—co-directors Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez found that their firefighting documentary had become something bigger than they’d imagined. Burn follows a group of firefighters as they try to contain blazes in a city with an endless roster of buildings left vacant amidst an economic collapse (a topic dealt with in Detropia and several other documentaries). Detroit’s population, as the film notes, is less than half of what it was 60 years ago, and many of those abandoned houses and former businesses have become firetraps. The film is built on vivid scenes that depict the danger facing fire crews from one shift to the next, but Burn also has broader implications, raising a host of issues about the changing texture of 21st century American cities...

Title: Burn: One Year On The Front Lines Of The Battle To Save Detroit General Motors, Goldcrest Films, Apostle, Tbve Director: Tom Putnam, Brenna Sanchez Screenwriter: Tom Putnam, Brenna Sanchez Cast: Donald Austin, Brendan “Doogie” Milewski, Dave Parnell, Craig Dougherty, Dave Miller, Jeff Urbas, Chris Palm, Dennis Hunter, Terrell Hardaway Screened at: Critics’ DVD, NYC, 11/2/12 Opens: November 2, 2012 Who needs the false excitement of the “Terminator” series when you can watch the real thing, when you can see the difference between a real, blazing fire reaching sky high versus the canned machinations of a film company’s special effects? In their movie “Burn,” directors Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez [ Read More ]

The post Burn Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Fans who attend film festivals enjoy the distinction of being among the first viewers of the best in independent cinema. Frequently, however, an independent film's journey to wider distribution is just beginning when the festival circuit is complete. This is certainly true for two popular Tff 2012 films - Burn and Fame High. The teams behind both of these excellent documentaries are actively fundraising so that their films can be shown in theaters this fall. Burn, directed by Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez, chronicles a year in the cauldron of danger and controversy that is the Detroit Fire Department. Focusing on life in one of the nation's busiest firehouses - Engine Company 50 - Burn follows these extraordinary firefighters as they face injury, death, and political shake-ups in a city with one of the highest arson rates in the world. Executive producers Denis Leary and Jim Serpico hope that Burn will bring...

The celebration for Burn took place on April 23, with over 200 attendees at Brookfield's office space at the World Financial Center treated to a spectacular panoramic view of downtown Manhattan at dusk. A valued Tff partner for eight years and counting, Brookfield honored not only the filmmakers but also the Detroit firefighters who frequently risked their lives during the harrowing year chronicled in Burn. Prior to the panel, attendees mingled with Brookfield executives, staff and special guests, including Festival Co-Founders Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal, the Burn panelists, and seven uniformed Detroit firefighters. Guests were also able to participate in discussions with the Burn team: directors Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez and executive producers Denis Leary and Jim Serpico. To kick things off, Ric Clark, President and CEO of Brookfield Office Properties, introduced the panel and moderator Kate Snow, an NBC News correspondent. Clips from Burn were shown throughout -...

The 11th annual Tribeca Film Festival presented Heineken Audience Awards to narrative feature "Any Day Now," directed by Travis Fine, and "Burn," a documentary directed by Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez, at the closing-night party April 29. Each award includes a $25,000 cash prize. Throughout the festival, audiences have voted for their favorite films in the Narrative Competition, World Documentary Competition, Viewpoints, Spotlight and Cinemania sections. "Any Day Now" is the story of a gay couple's attempt to adopt a young boy who's been neglected by his own family. Starring Alan Cumming and set in 1970s Los Angeles, the film is inspired by a true story. "Burn," executive produced by Denis Leary, profiles controversial Detroit fire commissioner Donald Austin, who's leading a charge to revive the city that many have left for dead.  ...

Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez each brought separate ideas to their documentary "Burn." Putnam has previously worked on documentaries, feature films and action sports shows. Thanks to his sports background, he brought a multi-camera perspective to the film, incorporating dolly moves, Glidecam and 2.35 widescreen, something rarely seen in the documentary world. But Sanchez, who has made a number of music-based documentaries, always wanted to make sure the focus of the film was on the characters, not letting the spectacle overwhelm the human moments. What it's about: A documentary about Detroit told through the eyes of its firefighters, who are charged with the thankless task of saving a city that many have written off as dead. Directors Putnam and Sanchez say: "We hope it will give audiences a real, boots-on-the-ground look at what firefighting is, which is something we’ve never seen before. We live in an era of relentless cutbacks to public.

HollywoodNews.com: The 2012 Tribeca Film Festival (Tff), presented by American Express®, today announced the World Narrative and Documentary Competition film selections, along with selections for the out-of-competition Viewpoints section—the program established last year that highlights personal stories in international and independent cinema. Forty-six of the 90 feature-length films were announced. The 11th edition of the Festival will take place from April 18 to April 29 at locations around New York City.

The Festival was curated by a new programming team this year. Frédéric Boyer has joined Tff as Artistic Director, having most recently served as Artistic Director and Head of Programming for the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. Geoffrey Gilmore, Chief Creative Officer of Tribeca Enterprises, has expanded his role in overseeing the Festival program. Genna Terranova has been promoted to Director of Programming and Cara Cusumano returns as Programmer.

“It’s been so gratifying to watch the new programming...

The Tribeca Film Festival announced half of this year’s movie showcase, the 11th edition of the New York celebration set for April 18-29. James Franco’s behind-the-scenes General Hospital feature, Francophrenia, will have its North American premiere in the Viewpoints section – the program established last year that highlights more personal stories. “He’s kind of constructed this really interesting and well-crafted film about that experience that plays with the boundaries of documentary,” says Genna Terranova, Tribeca’s director of programming. “It’s a bit tongue in cheek, as James himself can be. He’s a bit enigmatic and the film is as well.

With The Five-Year Engagement set as the opening title for the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival, they’ve announced more of the line-up today with World Narrative & Documentary Features as the Viewpoint titles. We’ve got the next film from The Exploding Girl director Bradley Rust Gray, Jack and Diane (as well as a first look about featuring Juno Temple, thanks to Styd).

There is a new Harmony Korine short as well Kate Bosworth‘s While We Were Here and The Girl, starring Abbie Cornish. James Franco also has his latest film, Francophrenia, featuring footage from his performance on General Hospital. Nothing sticks out too greatly yet, but if I see something as interesting as Beyond the Black Rainbow or Magic Valley like last year, I’ll be a happy man. Check it out below and come back Thursday for the rest of the announcement.

World Narrative Feature Competition

• All In (La Suerte En Tus Manos...

SXSW kicks off later this week, but once your done slurping the BBQ sauce off your fingers, pack your backs and head north to Manhattan as the Tribeca Film Festival is gearing up to unspool in April. To whet cinephile appetites, organizers have dropped the lineup for the World Narrative Feature Competition, World Documentary Feature Competition and Viewpoints lineups and there are plenty of titles to take note of.

Among the narratives, the anticipated "Jack And Diane" from Bradley Rust Gray will make its world premiere. Starring Juno Temple and Riley Keough, the film takes a teenage lesbian love tale and twists the formula, with one of them revealing she's a werewolf. Add to that a cast rounded out by Dane DeHaan, Jena Malone and pop star Kylie Minogue (as a tattooed lesbian, of course) and you can see why this will be one of the hottest tickets at the fest.

Firefighters are people who are close to Denis Leary’s heart–his cousin and childhood friend were firefighters, and tragically, his cousin, friend and four other firefighters were killed in a 1999 Worchester, Mass. fire. Leary, who also played a firefighter in “Rescue Me,” along with Jim Serpico, his partner at his production company Apostle, will executive produce the feature film “Burn,” a documentary about Detroit firefighters directed by Tom Putnman and Brenna Sanchez. The film is looking to show at the 2012 winter festival circuit and there are plans for a theatrical release. In order to help fund the documentary, Leary and the team behind the film have created a Kickstarter...

Denis Leary (Rescue Me), along with Apostle partner Jim Serpico, will executive produce the feature documentary Burn. The project, directed by Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez, is targeting a 2012 winter festival circuit with future plans for a theatrical release. We have the first trailer below, along with further information about this important documentary.

Click to watch Burn Trailer!

Burn is an action-packed documentary about Detroit, told through the eyes of its firefighters, the men and women charged with the thankless task of saving a city that many have written off as dead. The film tells an American story about struggle, hope and personal courage in the face of overwhelming odds.

Denis Leary and team have launched a Kickstarter.com campaign to help fund the documentary by offering custom items and experiences to financial donors including a set visit to Boardwalk Empire, an autographed leather helmet signed by the cast of Rescue Me,...

Denis Leary and his Rescue Me co-producer Jim Serpico are trying to raise funds for Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez's documentary Burn.  According to Deadline, the film centers on Detroit firefighters who struggle "with the task of saving a city many have written off."  Leary and Serpico are trying to finish financing the movie through the crowd-funding website Kickstarter and "are offering products and experiences to entice Kickstarter donors, including a Boardwalk Empire set visit and an autographed helmet signed by the Rescue Me cast."  The filmmakers hope to release the film into the 2012 festival season to help raise public awareness about the work and sacrifice of firefighters in these times of sever budget cuts to basic services a developed country expects. Gm and Apple have provided grants to the production and "a portion of the film's proceeds will go The Leary Firefighters Foundation to purchase equipment for the Detroit Fire Department.