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Dear Programmers,

What a time we're in...I hope you're all keeping safe and healthy.

As the old adage goes, 'this too shall pass'...and when it does I believe part of the healing will involve bringing the world back together as a global community. I'm proud to be offering a film that is all about America's signature effort in bringing citizens of the world together: the Peace Corps.

I'm working closely with director Alana DeJoseph on booking screenings around the country, and we would love for you to consider a screening or run. Let me know if I can send a screening link.

Marc Mauceri
212-243-0600 x20 | marcm@firstrunfeatures.com
 
A TOWERING TASK
The Story of the Peace Corps

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy gave young Americans the opportunity to serve their country in a new way by forming the Peace Corps. Since then, more than 200,000 of them have traveled to more than 60 countries to carry out the organization’s mission of international cooperation. Nearly 60 years later, Americans—young and old alike—still want to serve their country and understand their place in the world; current volunteers work at the forefront of some of the most pressing issues facing the global community.

Yet the agency has struggled to remain relevant amid sociopolitical change. More than once it had to fight for its very existence, and now—between a rise in nationalist sentiment and deep cuts to governmental-agency budgets—the Peace Corps is again confronting a crisis of identity: What role should it play around the world and in the lives of engaged citizens?

Narrated by Annette Benning, A Towering Task tells the remarkable story of the Peace Corps and takes viewers on a journey of what it means to be a global citizen.
 
Director Alana DeJoseph:

“By thoughtfully telling the story of the Peace Corps’ past and present, and then taking a look at its future, we want to equip the American public to redefine what it means for America to join the world community - not as a wager of war, but as a peacemaker and problem solver.”
Founded during the Cold War, the Peace Corps stands as an icon of American idealism. From the beginning, its mission of world peace and friendship proved to be a towering task. Imbued with the unbounded energy and vision of its charismatic leader, Sargent Shriver, and thousands of vigorous volunteers, the story of the Peace Corps is a uniquely American tale. From the political machinations to establish not just a brand new government agency, but a new concept in international relations, to the growing pains of an agency striving to define its mission, A Towering Task is the first feature documentary to chronicle the remarkable history of the Peace Corps while considering its future at a critical juncture.
 
More New Films from First Run Features
 
Sunken Roads: Three Generations After D-Day

Don McCarthy was 20 years old on D-Day, when his infantry division landed on Omaha Beach. Don and other D-Day veterans will someday soon have passed into memory and legend. This realization inspires filmmaker Charlotte Juergens to join Don and seven other D-day vets on a journey to France - a commemorative pilgrimage for the 70th anniversary of the invasion. In capturing their stories, Sunken Roads offers a new, intergenerational perspective on D-Day, presenting the memories of 90-year-old combat veterans through the eyes of a 20-year-old woman.

Opens May 8 in New York City!

You Go To My Head

In a desolate stretch of the Sahara, a mysterious car accident leaves a young woman lost and alone. Jake, a reclusive architect, finds her and drives her to the nearest doctor, to discover that she's suffering from amnesia. Intoxicated by the woman's beauty, Jake claims to be her husband and takes her to his remote desert home to recuperate.

"CRITIC'S PICK! A mysteriously elusive romance. Sensual cinematography. Teasingly luscious." -The New York Times

"Every frame of this psychological thriller proves visually stunning to behold." -The Hollywood Reporter
Koshien: Japan's Field of Dreams

Baseball is life for the die-hard competitors in the 100th annual Koshien, Japan's wildly popular national high school baseball championship. But for Coach Mizutani and his players, cleaning the grounds and greeting their guests are equally important as honing their baseball skills. In this dramatic and intimate journey to the heart of the Japanese national character, will those acts add up to victory or prove a relic of the past?

Ema Ryan Yamazaki's previous film was Monkey Business: the Adventures of Curious George's Creators.
F11 and Be There

For 65 years and counting, Burk Uzzle has created some of the most iconic photographs in American history. From Martin Luther King to Woodstock to America's small towns and back roads, Uzzle's photographs have provided a breathtaking commentary on American civil rights, race, social justice, and art.

An electrifying fusion of music, image, and dialogue, F11 and Be There captures the life and artistry of this most unique American photographer.
Albert Einstein: Still a Revolutionary

Albert Einstein was a world renowned celebrity, greeted like a rock star wherever he appeared. An outspoken social and political activist, Einstein was an anti-war firebrand who was on the right side of controversial issues like women's rights, racism and nuclear arms control.

In the 65 years since his death his fiery image has been neutered into that of a charmingly unworldly genius. Using a wealth of rarely seen archival footage and illuminating interviews, Julia Newman's documentary goes beyond the legend to tell the true story of our most famous savant.
Seadrift

In 1979, a Vietnamese refugee shoots and kills a white fisherman in Seadrift, TX. What began as a dispute over fishing territory erupts into violence and ignites a maelstrom of boat burnings, KKK intimidation, and other hostilities against refugees along the Gulf Coast.

Taking place after the Fall of Saigon, when hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese nationals desperately fled the communist takeover of their home country, Seadrift examines the events leading up to the shooting and its dramatic aftermath.

City Dreamers

Joseph Hillel's new documentary explores how four trailblazing architects – all female – have been working on the transformations shaping the city of today and tomorrow.

Phyllis Lambert, Blanche Lemco van Ginkel, Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, Denise Scott Brown have worked for and collaborated with some of the leading figures in architecture, from Le Corbusier to Louis Kahn and Mies van der Rohe, while finding their own voices in the male-dominated world of architecture.

For screening links and more information please contact Marc Mauceri

212-243-0600 ext. 20 |  marcm@firstrunfeatures.com


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