gleason ( film )
sundance kids this section of the festival is especially for our youngest independent film fans. programmed in cooperation with utah film center which presents the annual tumbleweeds film festival, utah’s premiere film festival for children and youth .
“gleason” premiered at the sundance film festival to a standing ovation, garnered an audience award at the sxsw film festival and a special jury prize at the full frame film festival. the documentary also recently won the special jury prize at the seattle international film festival .
the film, which played at the sundance film festival earlier this year, follows the life of former new orleans saints player steve gleason after his als diagnosis .
amazon studios has bought u. s. rights to clay tweel’s steve gleason documentary “ gleason, ” four days after its premiere at the sundance film festival .
gleason' s documentary begins at the end of his football career. sports illustrated released a preview of the film (which can be seen below) before the sundance film festival in january .
gleason
didn' t start out as a feature film. rather, it was something much more personal - intensely so - that was begun by gleason himself in 2011 .
img films, a division of the sports agency, financed “gleason” along with team gleason members and new orleans saints player drew brees. microsoft and go pro also supported the film .
a picture caption on friday with a film review of the documentary “gleason” referred incorrectly to the child of steve gleason, the subject of the film, and his wife, michel varisco. the child, rivers, is their son, not daughter .
consequently, any thoughts of cutting them from the film were fairly quickly disregarded .
the film had already screened at january' s sundance film festival. in addition, gleason and varisco showed it to a hometown crowd in june at the orpheum theater in new orleans. in both cases, it was enthusiastically received .
sundance film forward is a touring program which introduces a new generation of audiences to the power of story through the exhibition of film and conversations with filmmakers to create greater cultural awareness .
steve gleason with his wife and son. photograph: allstar / open road films
steve gleason is the man leading the battle against als, or lou gehrig' s disease. diagnosed at 34, gleason' s body began shutting down .
on the one hand, it' s a stark and honest portrait of what it' s like to live with als. but it' s also a multi - layered love story - between gleason and varisco, between gleason and new orleans, between gleason and his father, and between gleason and his unborn son .
the final push to finish gleason began in earnest in the winter of 2015, with the goal of submitting the film to the 2016 sundance film festival. the filmmakers had seven months to whittle down more than a thousand hours of footage into a coherent, feature - length narrative .
fostering artists at the convergence of film, art, media, live performance, music & technology .
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woven throughout is an inspirational story that lives up to the
no white flags
mantra gleason has preached through his team gleason foundation ever since his 2011 diagnosis .
amazon studios has bought u. s. rights to clay tweel’s steve gleason documentary “gleason, ” four days after its premiere at the sundance film festival. “gleason” centers on the former nfl player who revealed in 2011 that he had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as lou gehrig’s disease. the disclosure came five years after [ … ]
the former eight - year nfl veteran explains the story behind his new film, which details gleason’s struggle with als and how it' s affected him, his wife and young son .
john cooper, director of the sundance film festival, said, “the sundance film festival is truly a place for discovery. we have seen an increase in younger audiences in recent years, showing that the next generation of independent film fans is culturally adventurous and drawn to the diverse lineup we offer each year. ”
buy dvd distributor open road films and amazon studios runtime 110 min rating r year 2016 director j. clay tweel screenwriter j. clay tweel cast steve gleason, michel gleason
amazon has partnered with open road films to co - release gleason over the summer .
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the film - making might not be particularly polished, but the subject matter of this documentary is wrenching .
diagnosed with als, former nfl football player steve gleason starts to record video journals for his unborn son .
gleason
movie times, release date, and more: urltoken
scott fujita, a friend and former saints teammate of gleason' s who came on board to help produce the film, describes what the team called
fireside chats
over beer and pizza in the backyard of fellow
gleason
producer kimi culp, an old college friend of varisco' s .
if this film portrait stirs deep emotions, they spring from a breathtakingly unsentimental embrace of life at its most challenging .
one comes to distrust gleason ’s pathos, because the documentary always appears to be selling something .
tweel has crafted a film that goes beyond the facts of gleason' s football life. it promotes an awareness of als that trumps any well - intended ice - bucket challenge - and ranks as a profound achievement .
gleason manages to instill those triumph - of - the - human - spirit feelings despite, or maybe because of, the unvarnished and uncomfortable look into the life of gleason and those around him .
variety and urltoken both report that amazon studios has picked up distribution rights to gleason, j. clay tweel' s documentary about former new orleans saints player steve gleason and his battle with als :
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on the day director clay tweel screened his first cut of gleason for its two central figures, former new orleans saints safety steve gleason and his wife, michel rae varisco, a handful of the couple' s closest confidants gathered in their living room. in addition to tweel, gleason and varisco invited two of the film' s producers, seth gordon and kimi culp, as well as michel' s father, team gleason executive director paul varisco. the mood was one of apprehension, anxiety, even panic .
gleason opens at the theatres at canal place, amc elmwood palace and nationwide friday, july 29 .
the blocked punt embodied the tenacity and resilience of the city, and later, of gleason himself .
gleason is the man leading the battle against als, or lou gehrig' s disease. als is a terminal disease with no cure. diagnosed at 34, gleason' s body began shutting down .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans. it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
it is so rare to experience an honest film even in documentary circles which often are laced with political, theoretical or philosophical agendas. this film packed a punch and was so hard to watch yet was so refreshing to experience. must see! !
the trio developed an immediate rapport, and despite gleason' s deteriorating health, there was much in life to enjoy and capture on film, from newborn rivers to the launch of team gleason, a nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness of als and providing cutting - edge technology, equipment and services to those stricken with neuromuscular diseases .
amazon studios and open road have released the first trailer for the emotional and captivating documentary “ gleason. ”
updated: amazon studios and open road said today that gleason will open on july 29 in north america .
we see the ups and downs of steve gleason' s public battle with als in a heartwarming documentary .
you don' t need to know steve gleason' s name to be enraptured by his extraordinary story .
the power of clay tweel' s tear - jerking documentary, based on gleason' s video diaries, comes from the honesty and humour with which gleason presents the gradual loss of control over his bodily functions .
there are no featured audience reviews yet. click the link below to see what others say about gleason !
( at the outset, gleason worked with sports filmmaker sean pamphilon, who wound up releasing some damning behind - the - scenes saints footage without gleason' s permission that helped document the
bountygate
scandal. pamphilon is not mentioned or credited in the doc; reps say that a small portion of the final film was shot by him. )
gleason, very raw and real in every way. steve is such an amazing inspiring human being! !! gleason' s documentary of the twisted insane roads he and his loved ones must come to ...
soon, though, the story of gleason developed another twist, one that reshaped the film yet again. the following spring, pamphilon left the project altogether, and gleason described himself in a statement as
deflated and disappointed .
pamphilon had become, per the title of a 2012 gq profile ,
the man in the middle of bountygate .
one comes to distrust gleason' s pathos, because the doc always appears to be selling something .
park city, utah - - days after its sundance premiere, the documentary gleason was purchased by amazon to be released this summer. the announcement was made on january 28th about the film documenting the spokane native and former nfl star’s battle with als .
in january, five years after gleason' s diagnosis, gleason debuted at the sundance film festival, receiving praise for the dauntless depiction of als that this tight - knit family of filmmakers and subjects had created during years in the trenches together. open road films and amazon signed deals for theatrical and streaming distribution; michel, whose talent for drawing features prominently in the film, sold 10 prints at a post - premiere event, her first public showing of her art. in a sense, the response signaled an end of an extended period of tumult and the beginning of a new stage. call it gleason' s unseen epilogue .
that april, against gleason' s wishes, pamphilon released a four - minute compilation of excerpts from his recording .
it would' ve been easy to play gleason' s story for sentimental uplift meant to inspire others to live life to its fullest, or as a feature - length fundraising ad for the team gleason charity assisting those living with als ,
variety' s geoff berkshire wrote in his review of the film .
' gleason' may accomplish both of those things anyway, but any such benefits come honestly and without manipulation by inviting viewers along on an intimate journey and holding nothing back .
for new orleans saints hero steven gleason and his wife, michel rae varisco, however, it was anything but typical .
when it does, it will accomplish one of gleason' s main goals, which is to raise awareness of als .
“gleason” open in select theaters in new york, los angeles, san francisco, seattle and new orleans on july 29 .
the director of the documentary said they were handed 1, 300 hours of private video from gleason and his wife michel .
this particular carpet had been rolled out just for them, as it turns out, and for the premiere of the documentary
gleason ,
a film praised as both powerful and inspiring - and, at times, unexpectedly funny - - for its chronicling of their family' s struggle since learning in 2011 that gleason was suffering from the degenerative neuromuscular disease als, or lou gehrig' s disease .
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice, telling a story of startling cruelty. what a space it opens…
at the age of 34, steve gleason, former nfl defensive back and new orleans hero, was diagnosed with als. doctors gave him two to five years to live. so that is what steve chose to do: live. this film incorporates personal video journals from gleason for his then - unborn son to footage of his adventures undertaken as part of his mission to live his life to the fullest .
amazon has bought theatrical, tvod and svod rights, and is partnering with open road films to co - release “gleason” theatrically .
previous exclusive: amazon studios is closing a deal for all u. s. rights to gleason, one of the most acclaimed documentaries to premiere at this year’s sundance film festival. the docu focuses on steve gleason, a former nfl defensive back who played for the new orleans saints and was a local hero there who blocked a punt in the first game when the superdome reopened after the devastating hurricane katrina. he was diagnosed with als at age 34 and given five years to live. through vividly shot video journals that are a big part of the film — gleason wanted to leave a record of his life for his unborn son — director clay tweel shows how gleason took that to heart to live life as fully as one possibly can. since his diagnosis, gleason has: gone skydiving, interviewed pearl jam, spoken at the united nations, starred in a super bowl commercial, attended the state of the union address, helped pass the steve gleason act, founded the largest als research project in the history of the disease, and started one of the world’s most recognizable als organizations, team gleason. and most importantly, he became a father. the footage was shot over a period of four years .
the fate of the project was unclear. david lee, hired by pamphilon earlier that year, texted gleason saying he was still available to shoot. on easter sunday, lee filmed a family barbecue; within weeks, gleason asked him to record the placement of a feeding tube in his stomach, putting lee into the kind of private, uncomfortable situation that distinguishes gleason from similar documentaries .
the seattle - based documentarian made run ricky run, a documentary about former saints and miami dolphins star ricky williams in 2010 for espn films' popular series 30 for 30. pamphilon approached gleason in the spring of 2011 about collaborating on a film and contributing to gleason' s growing video archive — which the father - to - be saw as a chance to communicate with his child before the worst ravages of als took hold .
tweel, who previously directed finders keepers, is also editor of gleason and the film is produced by seth gordon (the oscar winning sports docu undefeated), kimi culp, scott fujita, tom lavia, kevin lake, mary rohlich and thomas mceachin. mark shapiro and will staeger are exec producers. the docu was financed by img films, a division of the sports agency, along with a large group of donors / supporters surrounding team gleason that includes exec producer paul varisco and new orleans saints quarterback drew brees. microsoft and go pro also supported the film, which premiered sunday at the marc theater .
though gleason and michel continued to film each other throughout the rest of 2011, setting up and shooting became more difficult as gleason' s illness progressed, and the amount of footage pamphilon wanted to gather was too much for the couple to handle on their own. with pamphilon splitting time between seattle and new orleans, the decision was made to bring on a part - time videographer. that summer, 22 - year - old ty minton - small, just out of college, responded to a craigslist ad and prepared for his first assignment: recording the birth of rivers varisco gleason .
i' m biased, but i have to say that' gleason' will break your heart and make it more whole than ever before ,
duplass said .
it will kill you and resurrect you with new life. it' s hard to exaggerate the beauty and impact of this film .
( l - r) 11. 22. 63, credit: alex dukay; sundance film festival, credit: jemal countess; eagle huntress, credit: asher svidensky .
in opposing public statements, gleason and pamphilon disputed the terms of a four - page agreement reached at the beginning of their collaboration. gleason claimed that the release of any footage related to the project required his
explicit approval .
the filmmaker defended his actions, saying he' d followed the agreement, that a mutually agreed upon mediator had approved the release, and that it was the
right thing
to do. (yahoo! sports reported at the time that the contract did not specifically prohibit either gleason or pamphilon from releasing audio or video prior to the completion of the film. )
it was pamphilon, tweel says, who captured one of gleason' s most devastating moments: the sight of michel crying on the banks of bayou st. john as gleason struggles to complete the last leg of their miniature
jazz fest triathlon ,
four months after his diagnosis .
for lee and minton - small, who' d spent years caring for gleason, playing with rivers and helping michel around the house, gleason' s gathering momentum came with mixed feelings. on the one hand, according to minton - small, it was exciting, after so many false starts, to see the film begin to crystallize. on the other, lee says, reconciling with new voices and viewpoints after being so close to the project was challenging .
“gleason” centers on the former nfl player who revealed in 2011 that he had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as lou gehrig’s disease. the disclosure came five years after gleason had memorably blocked a punt on the night the louisiana superdome reopened for the first time after hurricane katrina .
by the time gleason entered post - production in march 2015, the combination of gleason' s worsening condition, the growing number of caretaking duties and the consistent presence of cameras had worn down this small
entourage ,
as michel calls it, until the idea of continuing seemed untenable .
with any luck the film will raise awareness for a horrendous disease, and it' s well worth a watch for its honest portrayal of a man fighting back against tremendous adversity .
one night, while traveling with gleason and michel in peru, lee declined to film the former saints star being showered off after soiling himself, because he felt that doing so would have been
crossing some sort of line .
minton - small also began to question whether it was appropriate to shoot footage of certain events .
after the film ended, there was silence. for michel, watching gleason was an
out - of - body experience
— nerve - wracking but ultimately cathartic. paul, on the other hand, was
taken aback
by its raw, unflinching portrait of two people — husband and wife, patient and caretaker — facing the rapid advance of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (als), with which gleason was diagnosed in 2011, while raising their young son, rivers .
this is the best documentary i have ever watched. steve gleason is an inspiration and a hero. his wife michel is amazing too. wow !
the documentary chronicles the heartbreaking and inspiring story of steve gleason, a gonzaga prep and washington state university alum who became a defensive back for the new orleans saints. gleason immortalized himself in team history in 2006, when he blocked a punt the saint' s first home game after hurricane katrina .
gleason, who has relied on assistive technology known as augmentive / alternative communication (aac) since losing his ability to speak, needed only four words .
“gleason” is incredibly frank about gleason’s physical suffering and the toll his terrifyingly implacable physical deterioration takes on his marriage. while the director’s vision never strays too far from the positive message that he and the gleasons doubtlessly wish to impart, the movie winds up being most effective at doing what cinema cannot avoid doing .
we had two guys pretty much living with us who would film any events we went to or any trips we went to ,
varisco said .
and at the house, steve has a vision - he' s got big vision - - and he would let them know what he wanted to film... . it became a part of our lives .
it was the latest stop, but by no means the last one, on what has been a long, often difficult road for varisco, gleason and their little film that could. but as
gleason
prepares for a staged national rollout beginning july 29, which is when it opens in new orleans, as well as in a handful of other select cities, including new york, los angeles, san francisco and seattle - - it' s also one that has brought its own rewards .
but in january 2011, when gleason called fujita from san francisco with the official diagnosis of als, the outlook was grim — so much so that fujita and former saints tight end eric johnson, both of whom reside in california, drove together to northern california to see gleason, taking him on a sunrise hike .
he film - making might not be particularly polished, but the subject matter of this documentary is wrenching. shortly after he retired from professional american football, steve gleason was diagnosed with als or motor neurone disease. this brutally candid film is partly an account of his response to the disease – he founded a charitable organisation to help other sufferers – and partly a collection of the messages he composed for the son who was conceived just after the diagnosis. the resulting movie is an unabashed tear - jerker that juggles themes such as religious faith, marital stress and the toilet - based indignities of the disease – the latter an earthy strand of humour as crucial for gleason and his family as it is for the audience .
the moment was the culmination of a process that had begun in october 2010, when gleason, exhibiting the first symptoms of als. he decided to document his experiences in a series of video diaries. in time, the project evolved into a record for rivers, a fraught family album, a feature - length documentary and a sundance film festival selection, but at the time no one knew principal shooting on gleason had commenced — or that the tale of its making would be a compelling drama in its own right .
it paid off. in january ,
gleason
- directed by clay tweel (
make believe ,
finders keepers
) and featuring an original song by pearl jam' s mike mccready - - made its debut at the prestigious sundance film festival. it was immediately embraced by those who saw it, with some declaring it an oscar contender .
despite the twists and turns of its long gestation, gleason is what gleason envisioned in october 2010: a record, a document, of a family fighting through unimaginable circumstances to emerge, changed but closer than ever, on the other side. only now, audiences will be able to see that experience through their eyes .
as lee and minton - small continued to collect new footage, gleason and michel entrusted culp and fujita with shepherding the film forward. in the coming months, the pair hashed out countless ideas over pizza and beer at culp' s los angeles home, scrawling each one on whiteboard to see what stuck. they even formed a production company, dear rivers productions .
if
gleason
makes one thing clear, it' s that living with als isn' t easy. it' s not easy for gleason, and it' s not easy for varisco, who abruptly went from becoming her husband' s travel partner on their globe - trotting adventure vacations to his full - time caretaker .
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the assembled moments recording gleason’s physical deterioration become all the more moving when the film flashes back to him in more able days. similarly, a brief shot of an empty wheelchair, seeming to wait for its inevitable inhabitant, produces a shudder. in such instances, the movie goes beyond conventional (but very worthy) human interest concerns and offers something more rich and strange .
almost immediately after its sundance screening, the rights to
gleason
were snapped up by amazon studios, which brought open road films on board to release it theatrically .
when it gets down to it ,
gleason
is a difficult movie to describe, for the very reason that it functions so well on a number of levels .
“gleason” is rated r (under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian) for language, despite its family - friendly themes. running time: 1 hour 50 minutes .
i would think it' s rare for an independent, almost an art - house film, to be playing at theaters across the country ,
fujita said .
you don' t see films like this playing in green bay or kansas city or columbus, ohio, every day. amazon and open road want to make sure all those markets get a chance to see the film, which is great .
gleason' s intimate, often harrowing depiction of its subjects' confrontation with als — and, at times, with each other — is the result of the kinship lee and minton - small forged with gleason, michel and rivers over the course of the next three years, during which the pair recorded more than 1, 300 hours of footage .
the two had met when fujita joined the saints in the spring of 2006, not long before gleason' s blocked punt in the team' s home opener against the atlanta falcons made him a hero of the who dat nation, and a symbol of the city' s determination to come back from hurricane katrina and the levee failures. fujita remembers gleason' s generosity, extending an invitation to see dave matthews band at the new orleans jazz & heritage festival, and his idiosyncratic charm, which comes through clearly in gleason .
in a 2006 football game against the atlanta falcons, the new orleans saints safety steve gleason made a bold headlong leap that blocked a punt. the recovery of that ball led to a touchdown for the saints, and gleason and his team, representing the city that had been so terribly battered by hurricane katrina in 2005, became national symbols of indomitability .
i thought,' oh my god, this is exactly what my uncle was experiencing in the early stages ,
says fujita, now one of gleason' s producers .
that includes some moments that varisco admits to cringing over when she watches them onscreen today. but she also realizes that those moments are some of the film' s most powerful and most honest, and therefore the most resonant .
ultimately, that' s the main reason that
gleason
- culled from an astounding 1, 300 hours of footage, according to fujita - - is as powerful as it is. the cameras are there during moments of triumph, such as the family' s visit to denali national park in alaska. they' re there for moments of heart - wrenching defeat as gleason' s condition inevitably worsens. and they' re there for moments of turmoil as gleason and varisco work through the relationship issues that are all but inevitable under such strain .
the films includes footage shot over four years of gleason’s post - diagnosis activities, which include becoming a father, skydiving, speaking at the united nations, attending the state of the union address, founding an als research project and the organization team gleason — which has a mission to improve the lives of those who have als, the symptoms of which include gradual paralysis .
that’s what steve gleason, the former safety for the new orleans saints, tells his wife michel varisco in an early scene from “gleason, ” a documentary about his struggle with als (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), formerly known as lou gehrig’s disease. he’s pointing the camera at michel at first, and then he gives it over to her, and suddenly he’s looking us right in the eye. “a good filmer asks good questions to get really good material, ” steve tells michel. and wow, does “gleason” make good on that bit of advice .
the films includes footage shot over four years of gleason’s post - diagnosis activities, which include becoming a father, skydiving, speaking at the united nations, attending the state of the union address, founding an als research project and the organization team gleason - which has a mission to improve the lives of those who have als, the symptoms of which include gradual paralysis .
the hit documentary from the 2016 sundance film festival goes inside the life of steve gleason, the former new orleans saints defensive back who, at the age of 34, was diagnosed with als and given a life expectancy of two to five years. weeks later, gleason found out his wife, michel, was expecting their first child. a video journal that began as a gift for his unborn son expands to chronicle steve’s determination to get his relationships in order, build a foundation to provide other als patients with purpose, and adapt to his declining physical condition—utilizing medical technologies that offer the means to live as fully as possible .
the hit documentary from the 2016 sundance film festival goes inside the life of steve gleason, the former new orleans saints defensive back who, at the age of 34, was diagnosed with als and given a life expectancy of two to five years. weeks later, gleason found out his wife, michel, was expecting their first child. a video journal that began as a gift for his unborn son expands to chronicle steve' s determination to get his relationships in order, build a foundation to provide other als patients with purpose, and adapt to his declining physical condition - utilizing medical technologies that offer the means to live as fully as possible .
this movie (and the trailer) get me every time. for me, seeing gleason videotape his fatherly advice for his unborn son while he' s still able to is the ultimate act of love .
gleason is assembled from footage shot over a course of several years by director j. clay tweel, as well as by steve and his family, providing a terrifyingly intimate portrait of a rowdy and adventurous man’s gradual entrapment within himself. steve and michel are established to be free spirits who travel the world, searching for visceral experiences and generally drinking in life. their casual simpatico provides gleason with an initial jolt of pleasure that inspires foreboding. a clock hangs over the film, as we know that steve will get steadily worse. this suspense is exacerbated by steve’s video journals, which are intended for his initially unborn child, who’s delivered over the course of the film’s running time and revealed to be a boy they name rivers. as the child grows older, developing his motor skills, his father regresses, placing michel in the awkward and demoralizing position of raising two physical children, causing her to feel nearly as constrained as her husband .
and so, while she was often surrounded by cameras, often during very personal family moments, she was so distracted by the all - consuming new trajectory of her life with gleason that she hardly noticed them .
the critically acclaimed feature has roughly four years of footage, including personal and surprisingly humorous video journals shot by gleason, and clips of his globe - trotting adventures that he took to live life to the fullest .
his documentary started as a memory book and love letter to his unborn son. gleason' s voice was stripped away at an alarming rate, so he recorded the stories he wanted to read to his son .
gleason learns to use an eye - triggered speech synthesizer, and soon makes distributing these machines a focus of team gleason, the group he starts to help others with als. tweel chronicles both the rampant success this effort has and the strain running things places on his family life. even after she hires a friend to be gleason' s caregiver, michel can hardly keep up with tending to both her husband and an infant .
i' m wearing you down to bones ,
he types out on his screen one day. several scenes later, we witness an exhaustion - fueled fight that, given the devotion between the two, is heartbreaking .
i' m happy, and i get happier as we show it to more people and more people are being positively impacted by it ,
varisco said .
the more i hear that, the better i feel about the film and the whole experience .
in order for the project to attract investors and achieve the widest possible distribution, the film needed a director with extensive experience and prior credits, which function as currency in hollywood. culp and fujita interviewed more than a dozen candidates. one stood out: clay tweel .
in addition to those announced today, selections for the u. s. and world competitions, next, midnight and new frontier sections have been announced. an announcement of the short film program is forthcoming. for a full list of films announced to date, visit urltoken .
but it was, indeed, possible. driven by the vision and charisma of gleason, who still has full cognitive function and communicates with the help of a computer that tracks his eye movements, the project grew still more .
lee and minton - small moved to los angeles to help tweel with the editing process. the director conducted on - camera interviews with fujita, michel and other figures in the film, finding the major themes — marriage, fatherhood and the courage of als patients and their caretakers .
in cinema, the critic andré bazin noted, “the image of things is likewise the image of their duration. ” more bluntly, the subject in david cronenberg’s 2000 short film, “camera, ” observes, “when you record the moment, you record the death of the moment. ”
this marvelous documentary, directed by j. clay tweel, takes all of its cues from that early scene. steve gleason retired from the national football league after eight seasons and has been struggling with als since, trying to raise public awareness of the disease and agitate for a cure with help from team gleason, a nonprofit group founded by michel. the whole movie is as unaffected and direct as a documentary can be. nothing is off - limits here: moments of doubt and fear, disgust at failures of the body, the challenges that a debilitating illness poses to marriage and parenting (gleason’s son, river, was born shortly after his diagnosis, and figures heavily in the story) .
on jan. 5, 2011—three years after i retired from the nfl—i was diagnosed with als, a terminal disease that causes your muscles to atrophy and die. there is no cure. i learned that when i was diagnosed, which was right about the time i started recording videos sharing my thoughts about what was happening to my body. nearly 1, 500 hours of footage later we’re releasing a film, gleason, about how my wife, michel, and i have lived our lives over the last 5 1 / 2 years .
film hawk / u. s. a. (directors: jj garvine, tai parquet) — trace bob hawk' s early years as the young gay child of a methodist minister to his current career as a consultant on some of the most influential independent films of our time. world premiere
after he is diagnosed with als, former professional football player steve gleason begins making a video diary for his unborn son, as he, his wife, and their friends and family work to raise money for als patients as his disease progresses .
shortly after that diagnosis, he and new orleans native varisco learned she was pregnant with the couple' s first child. aware of the ruthless ravages of als, which would in short order rob him of the ability to speak, walk and even breathe on his own, gleason decided to film a series of
video journals
for his unborn son so he could make sure, using his own voice, that the child - named rivers, and who turns 5 in october - - would grow up knowing exactly who his dad is .
tweel, who previously directed “finders keepers, ” is the editor of “gleason. ” producers are seth gordon, kimi culp, scott fujita, tom lavia, kevin lake, mary rohlich and thomas mceachin. mark shapiro and will staeger are the executive producers .
for gleason and michel, the diagnosis would turn out to be just the first of that year' s life - changing developments. six weeks later, michel found out she was pregnant, and a man named sean pamphilon was about to enter their lives .
gleason
immerses the viewer in the ordeal of incurable illness. not just that of the sufferer, but of family, friends, and loved ones as well, because, as these films make clear, such misfortunes are not just personal, but communal .
what made clay so attractive is he was the first one to say,' i need to go get on a plane and explain to steve and michel why i need to make this film,'
fujita says .
he wanted to make the pitch to them directly, and that carried a lot of weight .
when you watch our film, you’ll see elements of football—but it’s not about football. i think sports movies, in general, tend to abide by an almost clichéd storybook narrative. the journey. the struggle. the resolution. the sunset. but from my experience, real life doesn’t work like that. real life is messy .
park city, ut — sundance institute today completed its feature film lineup for the 2016 sundance film festival with the highly anticipated narratives, documentaries, episodic work and events in the premieres, documentary premieres, spotlight, sundance kids and special events sections. the festival takes place january 21 - 31 in park city, salt lake city, sundance and ogden, utah. among the films that have premiered in these sections in recent years are boyhood, brooklyn, twenty feet from stardom, life itself, the end of the tour, mistress america, frank, going clear: scientology and the prison of belief, shaun the sheep and the jinx: the life and deaths of robert durst .
you gotta start somewhere ,
minton - small says .
when i went down there i was just young enough and just dumb enough that i didn' t really think about it that much. i do remember thinking on the plane coming down,' oh, shit. i' m about to film a kid being born.'
behind the scenes of anomalisa / u. s. a. (directors: charlie kaufman, duke johnson, screenwriter: charlie kaufman) — michael stone—husband, father and respected author—is crippled by the mundanity of his life. on a business trip, he checks into the fregoli hotel where he is amazed to discover a possible escape from his desperation in an unassuming woman, who may or may not be the love of his life. the festival will present a screening of the film followed by a q & a; with the creators. separately, they will speak on a festival panel explaining their creative process and how they brought their extraordinary film to life. cast: jennifer jason leigh, tom noonan, david thewlis .
wiener - dog / u. s. a. (director and screenwriter: todd solondz) — this film tells several stories featuring people who find their life inspired or changed by one particular dachshund, who seems to be spreading comfort and joy. cast: greta gerwig, kieran culkin, danny devito, ellen burstyn, julie delpy, zosia mamet. world premiere
the movie begins with footage of gleason, speaking haltingly but with good humor, into a video camera. (he was born in 1977, so his high school football career — scenes from which are included here — coincided with the ubiquity of the video camcorder; he’s clearly accustomed to the recorded life .) mere weeks after his a. l. s. diagnosis, he learned he was going to become a father. in archival footage, a healthy gleason romps happily with his wife, michel varisco, in various far - flung locales. more cerebral than a stereotypical football player, he is matched in post - hippie free - spirit vibes by his partner. they seem like a couple you’d enjoy spending the day with at an outdoor jam band festival. when the diagnosis hits, gleason becomes determined to give his unborn child a document of himself. this movie is that chronicle, and more .
the relationship between fathers and sons is the marrow of this emotional movie, expressed not just in steve’s relationship with his own father and son, but in an interview with pearl jam frontman eddie vedder by steve (a talented, self - taught filmmaker himself) about his own troubled relationship with his dad. this is a tearjerker of a film but also a joyous one .
trevor groth, director of programming for the sundance film festival, said, “many of our selections this year reveal that what resides at the core of captivating stories are fascinating, and at times heroic, characters. in shining light on these people, independent filmmakers are doing what they' ve always done best: connecting the dots of human existence with a deeply charged emotional current. ”
resilience / u. s. a. (director: james redford) — this film chronicles the birth of a new movement among pediatricians, therapists, educators, and communities using cutting - edge brain science to disrupt cycles of violence, addiction, and disease. these professionals help break the cycles of adversity by daring to talk about the effects of divorce, abuse, and neglect. world premiere
at the age of 34, steve gleason was diagnosed with als. doctors gave the former nfl defensive back and new orleans hero two to five years to live. so that is what steve chose to do - live: with purpose, for his newborn son, for his wife, and to help others with his disease .
sundance institute founded in 1981 by robert redford, sundance institute is a nonprofit organization that provides and preserves the space for artists in film, theatre, and new media to create and thrive. the institute' s signature labs, granting, and mentorship programs, dedicated to developing new work, take place throughout the year in the u. s. and internationally. the sundance film festival and other public programs connect audiences to artists in igniting new ideas, discovering original voices, and building a community dedicated to independent storytelling. sundance institute has supported such projects as beasts of the southern wild, fruitvale station, sin nombre, the invisible war, the square, dirty wars, spring awakening, a gentleman’s guide to love and murder and fun home. join sundance institute on facebook, instagram, twitter and youtube .
when i started recording journals for rivers, who’s now four, i wanted to be sure he didn’t get the “storybook sports dad” version of me. i wanted him to see the raw, imperfect, flailing person that i am. i wanted him to see my vulnerabilities, because i wanted him to know that sharing our weaknesses is how we find our strengths. and because my goal was to share my most real self with our son, that intimacy and rawness is translated in the film for the audience. i’d like to say that i’m completely comfortable with this but, truthfully, it’s downright scary. one of the themes i try to convey to rivers as i continue to shoot video journals is acknowledge your fear, but proceed anyway. i had to take my own advice as this film was being made. acknowledge and proceed .
oh, it' s a big deal ,
varisco said from los angeles just a few hours before hitting the blue carpet with gleason and a cadre of friends, family and supporters .
we are all excited and nervous at the same time. this is like the bigwigs here in hollywood. i' m very nervous .
michael jackson' s journey from motown to off the wall / u. s. a. (director: spike lee) — catapulted by the success of his first major solo project, off the wall, michael jackson went from child star to king of pop. this film explores the seminal album, with rare archival footage and interviews from those who were there and those whose lives its success and legacy impacted. world premiere
when gleason' s
nfl brother
scott fujita returned to new orleans in 2010 as a linebacker for the cleveland browns, he already was on tenterhooks. the prospect of returning to the superdome in colors other than black and gold left him so emotional that he headed to lucy' s retired surfers bar the night before the game, as he often had done during his four - year tenure with the saints — only this timae he accidentally got drunk. no amount of alcohol could have prepared him, however, for gleason' s description of his recent medical woes, and fujita, who' d lost an uncle to the disease 15 years prior, recognized the warning signs of als .
richard linklater—dream is destiny / u. s. a. (directors: louis black, karen bernstein) — this is an unconventional look at a fiercely independent style of filmmaking that arose in the 1990s from austin, texas, outside the studio system. the film blends rare archival footage with journals, exclusive interviews with linklater on and off set, and clips from slacker, dazed and confused, boyhood, and more. world premiere
two months earlier, while filming gleason and fujita at a team meeting on the eve of the saints' playoff contest against the san francisco 49ers, pamphilon had caught williams on tape urging his players to
kill the f—king head .
in light of growing concerns over traumatic brain injuries in football, he concluded that the public should hear the audio.
gleason is an american documentary film released in 2016 , covering five years in the life of the former new orleans saints football defensive back , steve gleason , who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ( als ) , sometimes known as lou gehrig 's disease , a rare incurable autoimmune condition associated with the former new york yankees baseball star , lou gehrig , who died from the disease in 1941 . 
gleason is an american documentary film released in 2016, covering five years in the life of the former new orleans saints football defensive back, steve gleason, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (als), sometimes known as lou gehrig's disease, a rare incurable autoimmune condition associated with the former new york yankees baseball star, lou gehrig, who died from the disease in 1941.
gleason is an american documentary film released in 2016, covering five years in the life of the former new orleans saints football defensive back, steve gleason, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (als), sometimes known as lou gehrig's disease, a rare incurable autoimmune condition associated with the former new york yankees baseball star, lou gehrig, who died from the disease in 1941.