EXCLUSIVE: BBC Storyville has acquired UK rights to the award-winning Sundance documentary Bad press.
Directed by Rebecca Landsberry-Baker (Muscogee Creek Nation) and Joe Peeler, Bad press It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last year, where it won the US Documentary Special Jury Award for Freedom of Expression. The film will be released on BBC and iPlayer in 2024.
Billed as a “political docu-thriller,” the documentary chronicles the struggle for a free press in the native Muscogee nation. The summary is: Bad press offers unprecedented insight into the inner workings of a modern Native American tribe. Just three years after its passage, the Free Press Act was repealed in 2018, bringing Mvskoke Media, the Muscogee Nation’s only news source, back under the control of the chief and his Cabinet. Veteran reporter Angel Ellis quickly becomes the leading voice of dissent in the depleted news paper, willing to risk anything to tell the truth to her fellow citizens.
“We are delighted to share our story with the BBC, the world’s largest public broadcaster. For Indigenous and non-Indigenous viewers: Bad press is a film that shows the value of press freedom, transparency and the crucial role of the Fourth Estate in our democracies,” said Landsberry-Baker and Peeler.
After Sundance, the documentary won the award for best documentary at the Dallas International Film Festival and the RiverRun International Film Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Emma Hindley, beach editor, BBC Storyville, added: “I’m so happy about this Bad press is featured on Storyville. It’s a great example of the power of observational documentaries: once you meet the brilliant Angel Ellis, you know it’s going to be a dramatic and, just as importantly, authentic ride. I also like that it was co-directed; Rebecca and Joe’s powerful command of storytelling in this most difficult of genres is second to none.”
The deal was negotiated by Submarine Entertainment Sales.
Source: Deadline
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