Producer Alan Elliott: Amazing Grace Film Will Not Be Shown at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) September 08, 2015 -- The producers of the documentary 'Amazing Grace,' which shows the making of Aretha Franklin's album of the same name, have decided to cancel the international premiere of the film at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) due to unfortunate and unexpected legal considerations.*
Since its filming more than four decades ago in January 1972, at L.A.'s New Temple Missionary Baptist Church by the late director Sydney Pollack, the documentary has been marred with challenges that continue to this day. The film suffered technical video and audio synchronization issues during the filming due to missing clappers. As a result, the film was locked away in the Warner Bros. vault for years until the pain-staking process of constructing the 87-minute documentary from the original footage by lip-reading the reels could be done. Sydney Pollack worked until his untimely passing with producer Alan Elliott and asked Mr. Elliott to finish the film. In doing so, Mr. Elliott has personally taken on the financial responsibilities of cobbling together the meticulous details of this long-lost project.
According to producer Alan Elliott, "I love the movie, I love Aretha, and my work with Syndey Pollack and Jerry Wexler is a proud memory and deep responsibility," says Elliott. "We hope to resolve the negative issues as soon as possible in order to allow this highly anticipated work to reach its intended audience."
"I'd like to thank TIFF Documentary Programmer, Thom Powers, and the entire TIFF staff for their unyielding support of 'Amazing Grace'. While I am deeply disappointed, I still believe that 'Amazing Grace' is the preeminent film document of popular music and culture," says Elliott.
Alonda Thomas, Liquid Soul, http://www.goliquidsoul.com, +1 404-892-2863 Ext: 23, [email protected]
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