“This film is controversial, and that’s exactly the reason we want to ensure it can find its audience prior to the November elections.” — Mark Cuban, co-studio head of Magnolia Pictures
Mark Cuban is a man who, in February of this year, attended a $30,000 a plate Obama fundraiser. Reportedly, as President Obama entered the event, he and Cuban “embraced warmly.”
Magnolia Pictures is a specialty releasing company (its “edgier” label is Magnet), that is known mainly for its backing of left-wing films, which include, “Casino Jack and the United States of Money,” “Enron: The Smartest Guy in the Room,” “Food, Inc.,” “God Bless America,” “Jesus Camp,” “No End in Sight,” and “Redacted.”
Cuban’s quote, however, isn’t about what you might think. He’s not only talking about his eagerness to release on multiple platforms, and just before the upcoming election, a film that takes no prisoners in exposing the left; it’s a film “presented by” none other than Andrew Breitbart (read the official statement below).
Four years ago, just before the launch of his flagship site Big Hollywood, Andrew said he had one simple goal: a seat at the table. The idea was never to silence the left or to do to Hollywood what it had done to conservatives and conservative ideas — exterminate them. All Andrew wanted was for our side and our ideas and beliefs to get a fair hearing in the world of popular culture.
Had you asked him then if he thought it was possible that a mere four years later one of the most openly liberal Hollywood players would not only distribute a film that was his brainchild but do so right before a crucial presidential election, I’m not sure what Andrew would’ve said. But I would’ve told you that you were insane.
Mark Cuban didn’t have to do this. He certainly doesn’t need the money, and he has to know that Big Hollywood has been critical of some of his films. Moreover, just a few months ago, Cuban invested $30,000 in ensuring Obama’s reelection. But now he’s going to invest who knows how much money to ensure that a film highly critical of Obama, one that takes an unflinching look at an appalling movement the president not only encouraged but also endorsed, is seen by as many potential voters as possible.
But such is the power of Andrew Breitbart — his drive, fight, charisma, and brilliance. We are now in the fifth month after his untimely passing, and the ripple effect of his influence and impact is not only not receding, it’s growing into something closer to a tidal wave.
With the announcement of the kind of distribution deal for “Andrew Breitbart Presents: Occupy Unmasked” any independent filmmaker would kill for, Andrew has not only earned himself a seat at the table – he did so in the most impossible way imaginable – without compromise; he did so without taking even a baby step back from his beliefs, his ideas, his agenda and who he is.
In Hollywood, that’s a miracle and practically unheard of, even if you’re Stephen Spielberg. Andrew Breitbart accomplishing this leaves me speechless.
There was no quit in Andrew, though, nor was there ever a lack of faith that over the Hollywood Wall he would find the like-minded who just needed to know they weren’t alone, and liberals (in the true sense of that word) who might not have agreed with his politics but would find common ground in the idea of “more voices, not less.”
In Mark Cuban, Andrew found his man.
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Magnet Releasing to Distribute Andrew Breitbart Doc OCCUPY UNMASKED
New York, August 6, 2012 – The Wagner/Cuban Company’s Magnet Releasing announced today an all rights distribution deal for Citizens United Productions’ documentary OCCUPY UNMASKED, one of the last projects featuring the late conservative icon Andrew Breitbart. OCCUPY UNMASKED was written and directed by award-winning director Stephen K. Bannon and produced by David N. Bossie. Magnet is giving the film a limited theatrical release day and date with VOD in late September.
“This film is controversial, and that’s exactly the reason we want to ensure it can find its audience prior to the November elections,” said Mark Cuban, co-owner of Magnet. “I look forward to our partnership with Citizens United Productions and to getting this film out to the masses.”
OCCUPY UNMASKED takes viewers into the Occupy Wall Street camps around the country in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Portland, Denver and Oakland for an up-close look at what’s happened there and who’s at the heart of the movement, documenting criminal activity and raw brutality in the camps – much of which has not been reported by the mainstream media. In addition to Andrew Breitbart, the film features journalists Brandon Darby, David Horowitz, Pam Keys, Anita MonCrief, Mandy Nagy, and Lee Stranahan.
“I am proud to announce that Citizens United Productions is teaming up with Mark Cuban and Magnet to distribute OCCUPY UNMASKED, and elevate the film the Left does not want the American people to see,” said Producer David N. Bossie. “This distribution deal will keep the groundbreaking work of the late conservative icon Andrew Breitbart alive for years to come.”
“As a dear friend of Andrew’s, I could not be more thrilled that this deal got completed and all Americans will have an opportunity to see one of Andrew Breitbart’s final pieces of work,” said writer/director Stephen K. Bannon. “This film is important because it sheds new light on the myth of the Occupy Wall Street movement. I know audiences across the country will be startled by what we uncovered in this explosive documentary.”
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
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