Award winning film producer Christopher Riley is delighted to announce that DOX Productions' new documentary feature THE FEAR OF 13, directed by David Sington http://www.thefearof13.com/ will receive its world premiere as part of the BFI London Film Festival 2015 on Saturday 10 October at Picturehouse Central, in Shaftesbury Avenue. A second LFF screening will take place on Saturday 17 October at the Curzon Mayfair, and the UK theatrical release date is planned for Friday 13 November 2015.
The film tells the story of Nick - a death row inmate, who after 23 years fighting for his life finally petitions the court asking to be executed. Christopher Riley first came across the story when looking for a follow up feature to collaborate on with David Sington, following their success with David's Sundance Award winning documentary ‘In the Shadow of the Moon’.
Christopher Riley says: “When Nick first told me his story, I made him a promise that I would make a film about his life whatever it took. I was resolute that I wouldn’t let him down and knew that David and DOX Productions were the right team for the job.”
David Sington says: “What I loved about the project Chris brought us is that it is much more than just a Death Row tale. It’s a psychological thriller with a universal theme: can a man consciously will himself to become a better person?”
DOX Productions funded the filming of the master interview with Nick, but then the project hit the buffers.
David Sington says: “The interviews with Nick were so utterly compelling – he was a master storyteller – that I decided the film should be structured as a kind of one-man play, with Nick the sole protagonist.”
But such a daring experiment in story-telling proved difficult to sell, and DOX faced the problem of not having enough money to finish the film.
David Sington says: “Chris was indomitable. He kept the project alive when it looked as if it would die,”
A breakthrough then came when Christopher Riley persuaded filmmaker Robert Sternberg to come on board.
Christopher Riley says: “I knew that Robert’s wonderfully sensitive editing skills would enable us to complete a rough edit of the material we had to demonstrate the power of our approach.”
After several years working in their spare time, the team had a suitable cut to show people what the finished film would be like, and it wasn’t long before funding, from Ten Mountain Capital, Thirty Tigers and BBC Storyville, came through; enabling David Sington to return to the USA to finish the shoot and complete “The Fear of 13”.
Christopher Riley says: “The journey we’ve all been on to make this film was nothing like we expected, but we’re proud to have seen the film through to fruition and now look forward to sharing Nick’s own extraordinary journey with the world.”
Notes to Editors
Christopher Riley is a multi-award winning film producer and director. He has over one hundred programme credits to his name for the BBC, National Geographic, the Discovery Channel and Film4. His documentary work has been screened around the world and celebrated by BAFTA, the US Television Academy, the Royal Television Society, the Sundance Institute and the Grierson Trust.
David Sington has been making award-winning films for cinema and television for twenty years. He has filmed on every continent on the planet, from the Amazon to the Antarctic. His films have helped to free the innocent, convict the guilty and change government policy. He has won numerous awards, including a coveted Grierson Award, two WildScreen Pandas, Gold and Silver Hugos, an EarthWatch Award, as well as Best Documentary and Audience awards at many film festivals including the Sundance Film Festival.
Robert Sternberg trained as a filmmaker at the National Film and Television School. After making educational science programmes in the independent television sector he joined the staff of Imperial College’s Humanities Department where he designs the M.Sc. in Science Media Production and oversees the production of over fifteen documentaries and short films a year. Outside of Imperial he is visiting tutor at the London Film Academy, specialising in story development and directing. He is a consultant to the National Film and Television School on online, practical film education. http://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/r.sternberg
DOX Productions was founded by David Sington in 1999, as an independent producer of documentary films and series for television and the cinema. Their cinematic documentaries have had wide theatrical releases and their critically acclaimed television films reach a large global audience. Their films have been commissioned by the BBC, Channel 4, PBS, National Geographic, Discovery and Arte and have been shown by dozens of other broadcasters in over 30 countries. http://www.tvdox.com/
Capital Punishment in the US:
Source: Death Penalty Information Center - http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/
For information about Christopher Riley please contact Rufus Stone at Swee: email@example.com or +44 (0)7473 226221
For information on ‘The Fear of 13’ please contact Yung Kha at Dogwoof: Yung@dogwoof.com or +44 207 253 6244 http://www.thefearof13.com