Indiewire and Variety today reported that Kino Lorber has acquired all North American rights to Scott Thurman’s topical documentary The Revisionaries. According to Indiewire’s Eric Kohn who reviewed it at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival, the film is an “enthralling look at the resistance to the theory of evolution among prominent members of the Texas Board of Education.” It went on to win a Special Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the event.

Kino Lorber will open “The Revisionaries” nationwide in early October, with Independent Lens (PBS) broadcasting the film in early 2013, when it will also be released on DVD and across all major digital platforms.

The Sundance Institute today announced that The Disappearance of McKinley Nolan will be included among the independent films supported by its Artist Services Program, and is now available on a variety of digital platforms including Hulu, Netflix and SnagFilms. “McKinley Nolan” will soon be available for immediate streaming and will also be found on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Microsoft Xbox, Sony Entertainment Network, SundanceNOW, VUDU and YouTube.

Breaking Glass Pictures today released the DVD of GONE: The Disappearance of Aeryn Gillern, which is now available at various outlets including the official “GONE” website. Breaking Glass will release the film digitally later in 2012.

Scott Thurman’s new film The Revisionaries won the Special Jury Award at the Tribeca Film Festival, at the concluding ceremony of the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.

See Michael Moore and the jury as they present the award:

Synopsis

In Austin, Texas, a group of fifteen people is influencing what is taught to the next generation of American schoolchildren.  The highly politicized Texas State Board of Education goes through the once-in-a-decade process of rewriting the teaching and textbook standards for its nearly 5 million schoolchildren.  And when it comes to textbooks, what happens in Texas affects the nation as a whole.

Don McLeroy — a dentist and Sunday school teacher, who while in dental school became a Christian after an intellectual examination of the claims of Christianity — leads the Creationist charge.  After briefly serving on his local school board, McLeroy was elected to the Texas State Board of Education and later appointed chairman.  In his 12 years on the board, McLeroy oversaw the adoption of new science and history curriculum standards, drawing national attention and placing Texas on the front line of the so-called “culture wars.”

In his last term, McLeroy — aided by Cynthia Dunbar, an attorney from Houston and professor of Law at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University — finds himself not only fighting to change what Americans are taught, but also fighting to retain his seat on the board.  Challenged by Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, and Ron Wetherington, an anthropology professor from Southern Methodist University in Texas, McLeroy faces his toughest term yet.

THE REVISIONARIES follows the rise, fall, and rise again of some of the most controversial figures in American education through some of their most tumultuous intellectual battles.

Credits

• Directed by Scott Thurman
• Produced by Pierson Silver & Orlando Wood
• Executive Producers: Jim Butterworth & Vijay Dewan
• Co-Producers: Daniel J. Chalfen & Chandra C. Silver
• Edited by Jawad Metni

Beneath the headlines, out of sight of most Americans, a critical war is being fought between those who would reveal the starkest truths about the United States’ national security policies, and a federal government ever more committed to shrouding its activities in secrecy.

According to the Justice Department, those who leak sensitive information to the public are a threat to the nation’s safety—but transparency advocates maintain that a campaign to intimidate and punish anyone who speaks out about wrongdoing is underway. The immediate goal may be to contain embarrassing information, but the long-term consequence could erode the ability of the press to act as a check on government power. What is actually at stake, say the whistleblowers themselves, is nothing less than our bedrock Constitutional protections enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

In Academy Award nominee James Spione’s new documentary SILENCED, the most important truthtellers of the post-9-11 era will speak for the first time in one film, revealing in dramatic and unprecedented detail the evolution of the government’s increasingly harsh response to unauthorized disclosures, exploring the unique courage and character it takes to challenge unethical behavior from within the national security establishment, and offering an analysis, along with a number of independent experts and thinkers, of what their chilling ordeals mean for the future of our country.

Credits

Morninglight Films in association with Naked Edge Films presents SILENCED

• Directed by James Spione
• Produced by Daniel J. Chalfen and James Spione
• Executive Produced by Jim Butterworth

Scott Thurman’s new film The Revisionaries will have its World Premiere this April at the Tribeca Film Festival, the festival announced today.

NEF-supported film Saving Face by Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short at the 84th Academy Awards. The film follows British plastic surgeon Dr. Mohammad Jawad, who returns to his homeland to help victims of acid burns. The film follows one woman as she fights to see that the perpetrators of the crime are imprisoned for life.

“Code of the West” will have it’s World Premiere at SXSW on March 11.  Congratulations to Director/Producer Rebecca Richman Cohen and the rest of the crew!

At a time when the country is rethinking its drug policies large and small, one state raises to the forefront of national attention. Once a pioneer in legalizing medical marijuana, the state of Montana is poised to become the first in the nation to repeal its medical marijuana law. Set against the sweeping vistas of the Rockies, the steamy lamplight of marijuana grow houses, and the bustling halls of the State Capitol, CODE OF THE WEST follows the 2011 Montana State Legislature as it debates the fate of medical marijuana. This is the story of the many lives and fraught emotions tied to one of the most heated policy questions facing the country today.

Credits

• Directed and Produced by Rebecca Richman Cohen
• Produced and Edited by Francisco Bello
• Co-producer and Director of Photography: Joshua Z. Weinstein
• Executive Producer: David Menschel
• Consulting Producers: Jim Butterworth & Daniel J. Chalfen
• Field Producer/Production Sound: Mike Kasic
• Field Producer/Additional Camera: Ian Kellett