Here!TV: December 2008 Archives

Here! Films, the theatrical distribution and worldwide sales division of here! Networks, announced today it has acquired worldwide distribution rights to "Eleven Minutes," a documentary about fashion designer Jay McCarroll, winner of season one of "Project Runway."

The documentary, co-directed and co-produced by Michael Selditch and Rob Tate, will open in theaters and debut on here! TV starting Feb. 20, 2009.

Here's some background on the documentary: In 2006, Selditch and Tate made a one-off TV special about Jay McCarroll for Bravo called "Project Jay." "Eleven Minutes" picks up where that story ends. It chronicles Jay's year-long journey while preparing his first independent runway show for New York's Fashion Week in Bryant Park, and the subsequent selling of his line to stores.

Said Selditch: "The goal of this documentary was to drop the pretenses of reality TV and focus on the daily trials of Jay McCarroll's design and work. Rob and I are very happy to be working with here! and Regent to release this documentary in theaters and on their network the final day of New York's Fashion Week in Bryant Park."

For more information about the film, please visit http://www.elevenminutes-jaymccarroll.com/

Here's a clip:

Here! Films, the theatrical distribution and worldwide sales division of here! Networks, announced today on World AIDS Day it has acquired North American distribution rights to the documentary, "Sex Positive," from the director Daryl Wein and produced by Wein and David Oliver Cohen.

Here! Films and its sister company Regent Releasing will distribute the film starting March 13, 2009 in select U.S. cities.

"Sex Positive," Wein's first feature-length documentary, made its world premiere in competition at the 2008 SXSW Film Festival and went on to win the Grand Jury Prize at LA Outfest in 2008.

"Sex Positive" explores the life of Richard Berkowitz, a revolutionary AIDS activist in the 1980's, whose incomparable contribution to the invention of safe-sex practices has never been aptly credited. Berkowitz along with Dr. Joseph Sonnabend (a controversial virologist and AIDS doctor) and beloved activist/musician Michael Callen emerged from the epicenter of the epidemic as community leaders, demanding a solution to the problem before anyone else would pay attention. Through the eyes of Berkowitz, the audience is made witness to a graphic testimony of sex, death and betrayal, while placing the invention of "safe sex" in a fresh and compelling context.

"Both in government and the gay population, the widespread silence during the early years of the AIDS crisis is absolutely shocking," said Daryl Wein, director of "Sex Positive." "People my age were not born of the era in which the crisis of AIDS forced behavioral change." Wein continues to say, "I'm proud to be releasing 'Sex Positive' through here! Films as I feel it is my duty to challenge the complacency of my generation by instilling the values of those forgotten heroes."