Opening in Cinemas Nationwide beginning October 1st including the Laemmle Monica in Los Angeles
Interviews Available with Filmmaker Michael Caplan Who Will Attend the Los Angeles Premiere with Special Guests
The new feature documentary ALGREN is a journey through the gritty world, brilliant mind, and noble heart of Nelson Algren.
Exploding onto the national scene in 1950 after winning the first-ever National Book Award for The Man with the Golden Arm, Algren defined post-war American urban fiction with his gritty, brilliant depiction of working class Chicago.
Hemingway declared him second only to Faulkner; Vonnegut dubbed him a literary groundbreaker. Hollywood soon came calling, immortalizing his breakout novel with none other than Frank Sinatra in the lead role. Algren even won a notorious place in both the heart and work of France’s premiere feminist, Simone de Beauvoir.
Including never-before-seen archival footage, newly uncovered audio recordings and his own rarely seen, personal photo collages, ALGREN charts the rise and fall of a man whose transgressions, compassion and thirst for justice pushed him to dedicate his life and career to giving a voice to the voiceless. Through interviews with Algren’s friends, literary experts and artists – including William Friedkin, Russell Banks, Philip Kaufman, Billy Corgan and John Sayles – the film is an intimate, witty and even antagonistic portrait of a tireless champion of America’s most marginalized.
"Enlightening for those who don't know Algren at all and thrilling for those who knew the man or his work and his life." -Rick Kogan, Chicago
Tribune
"A riveting, comprehensive depiction of an author that Ernest Hemingway declared second only to William Faulkner in the pantheon of U.S. writers." -Duane Byrge, The Hollywood Reporter
Bio of Director Michael Caplan
Michael Caplan is an award-winning Chicago-based independent film director, producer and educator. He is currently developing several feature films, including a film written by acclaimed Chicago writer, Joe Meno, and a documentary series that illustrates the connection between the smallest microbes in the ocean to climate change and worldwide pandemics. Caplan also directed and wrote Stones from the Soil, a documentary about his father's escape from the Nazis, which showed on national PBS. Caplan is an Associate Professor in the Cinema and Television Arts Department at Columbia College Chicago.
ALGREN
A film by Michael Caplan Opens October 1, 2021 in Live & Virtual Cinemas
85 minutes | color | In English Optional English captions for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
