New York Premiere Tonight 9/18 as Season Opener for the Stranger Than Fiction series at IFC Center; Los Angeles Premiere This Sunday 9/21 as Opening Night Film at Ambulante CA Film Festival
From director Ryan Murdock, Emmy-winning editor Jeremy Siefer, executive producers Greg Henry, Justin Weinstein, and consulting producer Dawn Porter
Featuring original music from Academy Award nominated Will Butler of Arcade Fire
“An intricate and compelling documentary that deftly weaves together multiple narrative layers—the American Dream, surrealism, fatherhood, race relations, celebrity” – VICE
NEW YORK – What if one day you looked in the mirror and saw the most powerful man in the world?
When Louis Ortiz shaved off his goatee one day in 2008, his life changed forever. He looked in the mirror and he didn’t see himself – a middle-aged, unemployed Puerto Rican father from the Bronx. He saw the face of change, of hope… of money. BRONX OBAMA tells the strange and improbable tale of a Barack Obama impersonator who tries to cash in on the “look of a lifetime” and chases a fevered American dream from opportunity to oblivion.
Filmmaker Ryan Murdock’s debut feature film has been in the making for over 3 years, as he intimately documented Mr. Ortiz’s transformation during Obama’s first term and throughout the 2012 election season. Murdock has rolled out this story in multiple parts – first as a 36-minute radio piece for NPR’s This American Life, then as a short film for The New York Times Op-Docs. The 90-minute feature documentary reveals a host of new characters; a manager who pushes Louis hard to “become Obama,” a seasoned “Bill Clinton” who dispenses advice, and a hard-working “Mitt Romney” who bets it all on his newfound career. Murdock captures unexpectedly hilarious moments along this Twilight-Zone-esque campaign trail while delving deep into the question of what it means to be someone you’re not.
BRONX OBAMA, which has been on the festival circuit throughout 2014 (it debuted at the True/False festival), is set for release on iTunes, Vimeo, Amazon Instant Video and other digital platforms on October 7. And it will have its national television debut on October 29, just days before the 2014 midterm elections.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Ryan Murdock is an independent filmmaker and the creative director of his company, Saving Daylight Productions, which creates documentary media for clients and develops original editorial projects. His recent work has been featured on the BBC, The New York Times, MSNBC, The Huffington Post, and Gawker, among others. “Bronx Obama” is Ryan’s first feature length documentary. He adapted his story for an episode of This American Life and as a short for the New York Times.
Ryan has been working in documentary media for over 10 years. Before starting Saving Daylight, he worked at the PBS science series NOVA, where he produced Musical Minds, a documentary about the effects of music on the brain featuring Dr. Oliver Sacks that the New York Times called “revealing.” He also recorded over 300 audio interviews for StoryCorps, the NPR oral history project, and launched their podcast in 2007. His short work has screened at the IFC Center, DOCNYC, the Imagine Science Film Festival and numerous live performances. Murdock’s thesis film, a claymation short called Power Surge, won Best Animation at the 2004 Flicker Film Festival. He holds a B.S. in Radio/TV/Film from Northwestern University and is a graduate of the New York Foundation for the Arts Artist Entrepreneurship Program. He is also a member of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective. The New York Times said Murdock “defies categorization,” which he considers a compliment.
WINNER – Best of Fest AFI Docs 2014
Official Selection HOTDOCS Film Festival 2014
Official Selection TRAVERSE CITY Film Festival 2014
Official Selection TRUE/FALSE Film Festival 2014 (World Premiere)
Official Selection FULL FRAME Film Festival 2014
Official Selection SARASOTA Film Festival 2014
Official Selection MONTCLAIR Film Festival 2014
Official Selection SF DocFest Film Festival 2014
Official Selection PORTLAND Film Festival 2014
Official Selection AMBULANTE CA Film Festival 2014
OFFICIAL FILM WEBSITE: http://www.bronxobamamovie.com/
PRE-ORDERS AVAILABLE NOW: http://www.bronxobamamovie.com/
PHOTOS: http://www.bronxobamamovie.com/images/