"He was on TV as himself. That's power." Xtr & Roco Films have revealed the trailer for the documentary film Butterfly in the Sky, a look back at the magic & brilliance of the "Reading Rainbow" TV program. This first premiered in 2022 at the Tribeca Film Festival, and at the Calgary, Hot Springs, Philadelphia, & Heartland Film Festivals. Finally set for a release in theaters first (at AMC locations) in March before hitting VOD in April. The inspirational doc chronicles the journeys of broadcasters, educators and filmmakers who believed television could inspire a lifelong love of reading. Featuring LeVar Burton (the Reading Rainbow host), along with many more: Whoopi Goldberg (Guest Star), Jason Reynolds (Former National Ambassador for Young People's Literature), Twila Liggett (Reading Rainbow co-creator), Larry Lancit & Cecily Truett Lancit (Reading Rainbow co-creators), Tony Buttino (Reading Rainbow co-creator), Steve Horelick (series composer), Ed & Orly Wiseman (Reading Rainbow director / producer) and also lots...
- 3/6/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Butterfly in the Sky, a documentary from Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb, revisits the impact of Reading Rainbow and its host, LeVar Burton. For 23 years the PBS show taught kids the value of reading––155 episodes of different children’s books, with Burton traveling the globe to learn something new, try something new, or speak to someone new. Ending with Book Reviews by kids, the show not only transformed reading into a cool activity, but gave children another role model to join the likes of Big Bird and Mr. Rogers.
Thomason and Whitcomb’s documentary follows a linear path, focusing on the series’ humble beginnings, the initial reaction along with its necessary evolution, and the brilliance of Burton throughout the quarter-decade. There’s nothing revolutionary about the filmmaking; there doesn’t need to be. Reading Rainbow and Burton were game-changers with a simple goal: doing whatever it took to get kids to pick up a book.
Thomason and Whitcomb’s documentary follows a linear path, focusing on the series’ humble beginnings, the initial reaction along with its necessary evolution, and the brilliance of Burton throughout the quarter-decade. There’s nothing revolutionary about the filmmaking; there doesn’t need to be. Reading Rainbow and Burton were game-changers with a simple goal: doing whatever it took to get kids to pick up a book.
- 6/22/2022
- by Michael Frank
- The Film Stage
Click here to read the full article.
Because the documentary marketplace is every bit as beholden to the sway of nostalgia as any other, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that one of its most lucrative genres has focused on TV shows that helped form a target demographic.
If you’re trying to woo a hesitant audience of Gen X or millennial viewers — less a worry with today’s documentary-filled streaming landscape than it might have been a decade ago — looking back on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood (Won’t You Be My Neighbor?) or Sesame Street (Street Gang) represents an easy way to do it.
Not coincidentally, those shows are the two longest-running children’s series in PBS history, followed by Reading Rainbow, which gets its own documentary retrospective with Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb’s Butterfly in the Sky, debuting at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.
While Won’t You Be My Neighbor?...
Because the documentary marketplace is every bit as beholden to the sway of nostalgia as any other, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that one of its most lucrative genres has focused on TV shows that helped form a target demographic.
If you’re trying to woo a hesitant audience of Gen X or millennial viewers — less a worry with today’s documentary-filled streaming landscape than it might have been a decade ago — looking back on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood (Won’t You Be My Neighbor?) or Sesame Street (Street Gang) represents an easy way to do it.
Not coincidentally, those shows are the two longest-running children’s series in PBS history, followed by Reading Rainbow, which gets its own documentary retrospective with Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb’s Butterfly in the Sky, debuting at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.
While Won’t You Be My Neighbor?...
- 6/10/2022
- by Daniel Fienberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
LeVar Burton, the former lieutenant commander of the Starship Enterprise, has been making headlines lately for attempting to revamp his beloved PBS series "Reading Rainbow." He recently started a Kickstarter campaign for the revival, one that proved so popular that it brought Burton to tears (yes, seriously). And if you want to know what the intro to the new "Reading Rainbow" could look like, well, take a look at this Funny or Die clip (via Gawker).
In the spoof, set to the original theme song by Steve Horelick, Dennis Neil Kleinman and Janet Weir, Burton starts to imagine the truly limitless powers associated with a life full of reading. And things turn dark and scary and profoundly hysterical. This is also the first Funny or Die video that could have plausibly been scripted by original "Watchmen" writer Alan Moore.
Just watch it. And have your giddy sense of nostalgia curdle before your eyes.
In the spoof, set to the original theme song by Steve Horelick, Dennis Neil Kleinman and Janet Weir, Burton starts to imagine the truly limitless powers associated with a life full of reading. And things turn dark and scary and profoundly hysterical. This is also the first Funny or Die video that could have plausibly been scripted by original "Watchmen" writer Alan Moore.
Just watch it. And have your giddy sense of nostalgia curdle before your eyes.
- 6/5/2014
- by Drew Taylor
- Moviefone
It’s no secret that the early 80s saw many fledgling filmmakers scrambling to become the next John Carpenter by capitalizing on the infamous slasher boom, and Madman’s genesis was certainly no different. And while it was one of four ‘campfire slashers’ made in 1981 (Friday the 13th, part 2, The Burning and The Final Terror being the others), it is perhaps the most distinct. From the invocative and unconventional opening credits (scrolling against an eerie, illustrated backdrop) to the expository campfire story told entirely in song (!), there’s enough happening throughout this visit to the ill-fated North Sea Cottages to recognize it as a standout amongst an overcrowded subgenre.
Our campers spin an uncomfortable yarn about a violent farmer called Marz, who butchered his entire family in a gruesome murder before being seized by an angry lynch mob. Disappearing from the makeshift gallows, Marz took to the nearby woods and became the stuff of legend.
Our campers spin an uncomfortable yarn about a violent farmer called Marz, who butchered his entire family in a gruesome murder before being seized by an angry lynch mob. Disappearing from the makeshift gallows, Marz took to the nearby woods and became the stuff of legend.
- 3/27/2010
- by Masked Slasher
- DreadCentral.com
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