Johnny Depp to lead brand new season of Sky Atlantic documentary films
Second strand of award-winning films to premiere this June, exclusively on Sky Atlantic HD
Sky to host a free Ralph Steadman art exhibition to launch the season
APRIL 2014: For No Good Reason, fronted by Johnny Depp and Errol Morris’ The Unknown Known are just two of the films making up the new strand of Sky Atlantic Documentary films, premiering exclusively on the channel in early June.
Also part of the strand is Small Town Big Story, a light-hearted look at a small village in Oklahoma, which every year re-enacts the story of the Passion of Christ. And completing the line-up is Blood Brother, the story of a man who gives up his life in the west to move to India and help children whose life has been affected by HIV, which won the US Grand Jury Prize Documentary & Audience Award US Doc at Sundance Film Festival 2013.
From an exploration into the heart of American politics, to an anarchic journey into the eccentric mind of one of the UK’s greatest artists, the new season is a rich and compelling mix of cinematic films, forming part of the channel’s commitment to telling the greatest stories from around the world, by some of the finest writers, directors and producers at work today.
Johnny Depp will front For No Good Reason, an extraordinary documentary exploring the life and art of his hero, the artist Ralph Steadman, who is best known for his work with the Gonzo author Hunter S. Thompson.
To coincide with For No Good Reason, Sky will be hosting a retrospective exhibition of Ralph Steadman’s art at the White Space Gallery in London. The exhibition will open with an exclusive Media Private view on Thursday 29th May, and then will be open free of charge to the public until Wednesday 4th May. The exhibition will feature a variety of work from across Steadman’s career.
The Unknown Known, by Academy Award winning director Errol Morris presents a fascinating portrait of Donald Rumsfeld, the divisive Secretary of Defence and the principal architect of the Iraq War. The film was nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, the first time a documentary has been selected for the award.
Customers will be able to watch the films on the channel as well as via Sky’s On Demand services, and through Sky’s multiplatform TV service Sky Go, offering greater choice over when, where and how they watch.
For No Good Reason
Johnny Depp embarks on a journey through the life and works of Ralph Steadman, one of the most important radical British artists of modern times. The film is a richly creative look at the power and importance of art to achieve Steadman’s aim "I learnt to draw...to try to change the world". Director Charlie Paul spent 15 years meticulously amassing the footage and creating the remarkable animations for the film to match the same anarchic energy, anger and free spirit of Steadman's pictures. It is riot of stories and images that literally blast out of the screen as we take a trip through the wild and dark days of Steadman’s time and consignments with ‘Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas’ writer Hunter S Thompson, the Rumble in the Jungle and gun fights with literary giant William S Burroughs.
Nominated for Grierson Award, 2012
Directed by Charlie Paul
Acquired for Sky by Michael Whelan
The Unknown Known
Errol Morris (Academy Award-winner for The Fog of War, 2004) secures remarkable access into the ideas, fears and certainties of one of the most powerful men in the world. Morris persuades Rumsfeld to explore and explain his ‘snowflakes,’ the enormous archive of memos he wrote across almost 50 years in Congress, the White House and the Pentagon. The ‘snowflakes’ provide a fascinating insight into the mind of one who transformed America and the landscape of the entire world.
Nominated for Golden Lion, Venice Film Festival 2013
Directed by Errol Morris
Commissioned for Sky by Celia Taylor
Blood Brother
Rocky Braat, a young man from a fractured family and a troubled past, went traveling through India without a plan. Then he met a group of HIV positive children living in an orphanage — a meeting that changed everything for him. Rocky left his life, friends, and career in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to live with the kids. Steve Hoover, his best friend and filmmaker, was unsettled and intrigued by this drastic action. In an effort to find out what compelled Rocky to give up every source of stability in his life, Hoover decided to trace Rocky’s story, following him to India. He witnessed Rocky and the kids endure disease, abject poverty, and death. But, strangest of all, in the midst of these troubles, he also saw their deep joy. And he came to understand why Rocky had given up everything he had to experience it.
Directed by Steve Hoover
Acquired for Sky by Michael Whelan
Winner of US Grand Jury Prize Documentary & Audience Award US Doc at Sundance Film Festival 2013
Small Town Big Story
For 88 years, a small town has pantomimed Christ's passion story on a bizarre reproduction of Jerusalem built into a cow pasture in Oklahoma. Small Town Big Story is a light-hearted documentary chronicling the 300-strong amateur cast, 46 horses, and Zack – a Buddhist paperboy currently cast as Jesus. Tensions run high as the production aspires to bring back the 'victory days' that boasted audiences of 80,000. But panic sets in after a new lighting system fails, and culminates when the director has a heart attack. After Zack exposes his Buddhism in a town meeting, chaos ensues and everyone is left to wonder if this year's show really can go on.
Directed by Julian Pinder
Commissioned for Sky by Siobhan Mulholland
ENDS
Notes to editor
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