We debuted our newest teaser for the college hoops documentary RED V. BLUE last week at the Louisville Venture Connectors meeting. The pitch went over well, and the folks at Louisville Business First called it the “best film-financing pitch” that they have ever seen. Literally.
“Bomb It 2,” the sequel to the global graffiti doc “Bomb It,” is just months away from its Spring 2013 release. To get you in the spirit, check out the brand new trailer. “Bomb It 2″ is directed by Jon Reiss and co-produced by Rory Owen Delaney.
It’s 2013 and we are excited to release the first official Hillbilly Drags trailer to jump-start the new reality TV show featuring Mr. Horsepower Kent Rose and Willard Kinzer. Stay tuned for more Hillbilly Drags Clips!
Here it is: The first Red V. Blue teaser featuring Denny Crum, Joe B. Hall, Adam Lefkoe and many more. Red V. Blue is a documentary about the Louisville-Kentucky college basketball rivalry, two schools separated by less than 60 miles. From the storied 1983 Dream Game to the legislation passed in its wake that mandated the annual clash, Red V. Blue details the extraordinary circumstances that helped create one of the nation’s fiercest college rivalries.
In November, we were in Kentucky, working on our Red V. Blue documentary about the UofL-UK college basketball rivalry. The documentary has been in production since December 2011 and is picking up steam. Among the developments, we have added a new producer WHAS sports reporter Adam Lefkoe who started the popular UofL-UK themed “The Rivalry” YouTube series.
Most recently, we were in Louisville, KY, where we went inside WAG’s barbershop, a “divided” establishment where UK and Louisville fans once sat side by side. Boone clipped the Wildcat fans, and Mark Wagner and Mark Wagner Jr. clipped the Cardinals supporters. You may remember them from Adam Lefkoe’s “The Rivalry” YouTube channel.
After the 2012 UK national championship, the barbers butted heads, and Boone struck out on his own. “Designed by Miracles” was the result, a barbershop with an interior painted entirely blue and white about twenty blocks east of WAG’s on Broadway Avenue in downtown Louisville. For Red V. Blue we check in with Boone and the Wagner family before reuniting the barbers for a passionate debate on UK-UofL basketball.
To help get the holidays started, we are cracking opening the vaults here at Man Bites Dog Films and taking you back to 2008 with this original song by George Gloucester, aka Long Island George, a New Yorker and Vietnam Vet. I filmed this with P.G. Banker in Charleston, WV, while we were making the documentary “Toxic Soup.” We went back to George’s apartment after several libations at the Empty Glass to hear the new Christmas song that he had written. Not sure what its official title is, but it will break your little feckin Christmas heart.
After a two week delay due to Hurricane Sandy, the audience voting period has begun for the Focus Forward Filmmaking Competition. Below you can vote for our three minute documentary “Virtual Iraq Redux” as it is currently in competition for the audience favorite award. Of the 2.3 million U.S. military personnel who have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001, studies estimate that as many as 460,000 suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder on returning home. The innovative virtual reality clinical therapy for PTSD developed by Dr. Skip Rizzo at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies leverages computer and gaming technologies in novel ways to increase accessibility and acceptability, as well as extend the overall effectiveness of treatment beyond current conventional exposure therapy with highly promising results.
Man Bites Dog Films is currently producing a reality television show “HILLBILLY DRAGS” about the Arm Drop Drag Race, a semi-annual drag race held in Kentucky. The show will profile Mr. Horsepower, Kent Rose, a garage owner turned local celebrity after the overnight success of his Arm Drop Drag Racing event, an event which has drawn hundreds of participants and thousands of spectators in just over a year. ”Arm Drop Nation” will document Kent Rose and his partnership with various local businesses as Arm Drop Drag Racing sweeps the nation.
One reason for the popularity of Arm Drop Drag racing is its uniqueness. The event permits an often illegal sport to be performed legally and safely in a controlled environment. It is also unique because it represents a return to the basics. Each race is started by the drop of an arm, rather than a traffic signal, and the surface of the race track remains untreated by dressings that boost a racer’s traction or torque.
Above all, the event is uncommon because it welcomes all participants. If you’ve got something on wheels, Kent will create a racing class for you! Currently, there are five racing categories: the grocery getter class, which consists of minivans, station wagons and an assortment of jalopies; the all-wheel-drive class featuring all-wheel-drive vehicles; drag radial cage class featuring drag radial tires with a roll cage; drag radial class with no cage; and finally, street class featuringeverything from a 69 Camaro to a McLaren Mercedes.
Most importantly, however, we are excited about “Arm Drop Nation” because of its organizers: Kent Rose, Willard Kinzer, Prestonsburg mayor Jerry Fannin, Dr. Chip Salyer, and ARCA series driver Steve Blackburn, among others. Kent is the local garage owner with an expertise in cars, drag racing, and trash talking. Willard Kinzer is the reserved entrepreneur, who broke the world record for the fastest quarter mile time on a drag radial at the ripe age of 83! Dr. Chip Salyer is a race organizer and a chiropractor who can fix your back in breakneck-speed, and Steve Blackburn is a successful ARCA racer and local ATV business owner with finishes in the top 5 at Daytona and Talladega.
At the center of it all is Kent Rose, the heart of Arm Drop Nation. Racing is his passion, and Kent does whatever it takes to produce a successful event. Just wait and see; Mr. Horsepower and “Arm Drop Nation” are going to take your TV by storm!
Check out the short documentary that I edited for Sahaya International, narrated by Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons, which details the AIDS epidemic in rural India. Sahaya International is a non-profit organization based out of Davis, California. Its mission is to promote awareness and education of social, medical and environmental issues in developing countries, particularly in India.
