Telling Pictures

Rob and Jeffrey Essential SF Honorees

2011-11-03T17:38:00.000-07:00

Directors Robert Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman are two of this year's Essential SF honorees. The article about their work, available here, cites their Academy Award winning documentary work, as well as their more recent forays into scripted films. They are being presented with the award at New People Cinema this Sunday, November 6th, at 7pm.

Screening of The Times of Harvey Milk On Constellation.TV

2011-11-03T14:57:00.000-07:00

On November 16th at 8:00 PM EST, a special screening of The Times of Harvey Milk will take place on Constellation.TV, a new online movie theater platform. Director Rob Epstein will be hosting a live Q&A via webcam with the audience after the film. The Q&A will take place in Constellation's virtual movie theater platform. Tickets available now at www.constellation.tv/timesofharveymilk

Franco on HOWL

2011-10-30T18:37:00.000-07:00

James talks about his relationship to the poem and his experience working with Rob & Jeffrey. Taped at the Berlinale in 2010. Please click image on left to view.

Discosalt's "Howl" Interview hits the iPad

2011-09-13T16:43:00.000-07:00

Discosalt's interactive indie music, film and art iPad Magazine application will feature an interview with "Howl" director Jeffrey Friedman. The original interview can be seen by clicking on the image to the left. Jeffrey co-directed "Howl" with Rob Epstein in 2010.

Ralph Lauren calls Howl "Genius"

2011-09-07T17:23:00.000-07:00

Ralph Lauren reviewed "Howl" in their debut magazine that is part of the launch of their new Brooklyn flavored clothing line, called Denim and Supply.

The magazine describes "Howl" as: "The artful story of young legendary poet Allen Ginsberg."

Please click on the image to visit the Denim and Supply website.

“The Celluloid Closet” featured on Current TV

2011-09-02T16:22:00.000-07:00

Rob and Jeffrey’s “The Celluloid Closet” was featured as #7 on Current TV’s “50 Documentaries to See Before you Die.”

Their film “Paragraph 175” was also on the list at #35. The series will be repeated on Current TV, please check their website for upcoming showtimes.

HOWL on HULU!

2011-07-05T17:48:00.000-07:00

For a limited time

HOWL can be viewed on

The Art of HOWL

2011-05-11T23:07:00.000-07:00

This multimedia exhibit at San Francisco's Cartoon Art Museum includes character design drawings, animation keyframes, concept art, storyboards and animatics, photos by Allen Ginsberg, and images from Eric Drooker’s graphic novel version of the poem.

Howl à Paris

2011-03-28T22:30:00.000-07:00

15 avril - 20h-22:00 à la Mairie du 3è:

Howl, le poème d’une génération:

Lecture du poème Howl par le chanteur Benjamin Biolay (sous réserve).
Projection du film Howl (2010) en présence du réalisateur Jeffrey Friedman et de Jim Haynes (écrivain Beat), suivie d’une discussion sur les valeurs de la Beat Generation.

Allen Ginsberg, Greogory Corso, Ed Freeman (Friend of Corso's), and Peter Orlovsky, Pont St. Michel, Paris December 1956. photographer unknown

The Times of Harvey Milk’s Rob Epstein on Docs, Reality TV, and Keeping Harvey Alive on Film

2011-03-24T00:03:00.000-07:00

THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK from Criterion available now!

2011-03-02T15:03:00.000-08:00

Three reasons... check out the trailer.

HOWL opens in London

2011-02-24T08:05:00.000-08:00

Time Out London features HOWL as "film of the week," with an interview with Rob & Jeff.

Cinematographer Ed Lachman talks about visualizing HOWL

2011-01-19T00:58:00.000-08:00

Listen to a fascinating podcast interview with HOWL Director of Photography Ed Lachman.

MoMA kicks off Oscar's Docs series with "The Times of Harvey Milk"

2011-01-17T10:38:00.000-08:00

Each year around this time, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences celebrates a select group of documentary filmmakers; in that spirit, this annual survey presents some of the Oscar-nominated documentaries that have had a major impact over the years.

"Das Geheul" wird in Deutschland eröffnet

2011-01-12T20:44:00.000-08:00

Watch the German trailer!

Als die Auflage seines Gedichts schon kurz nach ihrer Veröffentlichung von der Polizei beschlagnahmt und er daraufhin wegen des Vorwurfs der literarischen Obszönität angeklagt wird, zieht gegen Allen Ginsberg nicht nur ein einzelner Staatsanwalt vor Gericht. Es ist das prüde Amerika der 50er Jahre, das ihn und sein Meisterwerk "Howl" zur Rechenschaft ziehen will. Zur Rechenschaft für seine ganz eigene, künstlerische Suche nach Liebe und Erlösung, für sein leidenschaftliches Infragestellen der amerikanischen Gesellschaft. Und zur Rechenschaft für den Aufruhr einer ganzen Generation.

HOWL on iTunes!

2011-01-08T12:42:00.000-08:00

Now you don't even have to get up from your computer to see the best minds of your generation destroyed by madness!

HOWL out on DVD + Blu Ray

2011-01-06T19:24:00.000-08:00

The HOWL DVD and Blu Ray edition is out this week, and it's chock-full of juicy extras, including an informal conversation with James Franco, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman as commentary, behind-the-scenes documentaries and research tapes, and bonus never-before-seen readings by Ginsberg, as well as a complete new audio reading of the poem by Franco. And the Blu Ray - DVD combo package even includes some extra extras. Check it out!

James Franco and Annette Insdorf on Howl at the 92nd Street Y

2010-12-16T23:43:00.000-08:00

James gives a good history of the project and his approach to the role.

HOWL U.K. premiere this week at the London Film Festival

2010-10-26T17:30:00.000-07:00

The two scheduled screenings sold out, so they've added an encore (Thu 28 Oct, 21:00, Vue Screen 7). Soda Pictures will release HOWL theatrically in the U.K. in late February.

Carter Burwell's gorgeous soundtrack for HOWL now available!

2010-10-12T13:32:00.000-07:00

Carter assembled a dazzling ensemble of musicians to realize his beautiful, haunting motion picture score.

Get it on iTunes

cello: Maya Beiser

guitar: David Torn, Marc Ribot

violin: Laura Seaton

woodwinds: Bohdan Hilash

bass: Fima Ephron

piano: Carter Burwell

Check out Eric Drooker's luscious graphic HOWL

2010-10-12T03:31:00.000-07:00

Featuring sumptuous artwork from the motion picture!

“In publishing 'Howl,' I was curious to leave behind after my generation an emotional time bomb that would continue exploding in U.S. consciousness, in case our military-industrial-nationalist complex solidified into a repressive police bureaucracy.”
“I was also curious to see how [Eric Drooker] would interpret my work. And I thought that with today's lowered attention span TV consciousness, this would be a kind of updating of the presentation of my work . . . He really captured that sense of Moloch I was going for in the second section of 'Howl'—‘Moloch whose buildings are judgment!’”

— Allen Ginsberg

Discosalt talks to Jeffrey Friedman

2010-10-11T21:09:00.000-07:00

Discosalt spoke with independent filmmaker Jeffrey Friedman (shown below as a sullen 18-year-old) about making the film, growing up in a Bohemian upper west side left-wing intellectual family, meeting Ginsberg for the first time, and both the personal and cultural impact of the poem.

Photo by Joe Clifford

Stanley Fish on HOWL as Literary Criticism

2010-10-05T14:29:00.000-07:00

"...After a movie you usually want to talk about the actors or the direction or the cinema-photography, but when you leave this movie what you want to do is go directly to a bookstore and buy a copy of “Howl” so that you can do some literary interpreting yourself; and then you want to go back and see the movie again (as I did) in the hope that this time you have something of your own to offer. See you there."

NY Times offers a study guide to HOWL (the poem and the movie!)

2010-10-04T21:47:00.000-07:00

How can poetry both reflect and transcend the era in which it is written? How can looking at a poem from multiple perspectives illuminate its meaning?

A study guide from the New York Times.

LA TIMES: "Reading HOWL at HOWL"

2010-10-03T11:37:00.000-07:00

"Brave, committed and inventive." - Michael Ordoña LA Times

2010-10-01T10:49:00.000-07:00

"Howl takes a celebrated piece of writing and makes it come alive." - A.O. Scott, New York Times

2010-09-28T10:44:00.000-07:00

"HOWL is an exhilarating trip back in time" - David Edelstein, NY MAG

2010-09-28T10:32:00.000-07:00

James Franco Selects His Favorite Poems

2010-09-28T02:00:00.000-07:00

Today, Howl opens in theaters, with James Franco inhabiting the role of Allen Ginsberg circa the mid-fifties, as his most famous poem creates a national controversy. Franco is no stranger to poetry himself, however: He studied it at Warren Wilson College, and, as a director, he is currently filming a series of short films, each based on a different poem. This got us thinking: What poems and poets are Franco's favorites? We asked the bazillion-hyphenate artist, and he thoughtfully obliged.

Howls of Anger, and of Liberation

2010-09-27T16:48:00.000-07:00

A radical poem demands a nonlinear analysis, and Epstein and Friedman rose to the challenge by creating a stripped-down "dramatized documentary" that encourages the viewer to fill in the gaps with his or her own interpretation.

James Franco talks with Letterman about HOWL

2010-09-26T11:52:00.000-07:00

howl premiere NYC 9/22/10

2010-09-24T15:37:00.000-07:00

HOWL OPENS TODAY IN NYC AND SF BAY AREA!!

2010-09-24T15:31:00.000-07:00

One week to go until the official opening of HOWL on Sept. 24th!

2010-09-16T16:50:00.000-07:00

"Great art transcends its creator. In this case, it also lays the foundation for a great film."

2010-09-16T16:40:00.000-07:00

When is a biopic not just a biopic? When, like 'Howl,' it's got poetry in its soul.

we heart this HUFFINGTON POST!

2010-09-16T16:33:00.000-07:00

James Franco is featured in October's ADVOCATE cover article. Let the swooning commence!

2010-09-09T09:37:00.000-07:00

HOWL featured in Los Angeles Magazine's "Sunny Daze" Film Preview

2010-09-08T17:47:00.000-07:00

"HOWL combines dramatization and documentary images so fluidly that one experiences what may be a new form." - Artforum, September 2010

2010-09-08T17:33:00.000-07:00

Enter the City Lights Book Trailer Contest

2010-09-08T17:28:00.000-07:00

Howl in Italian!

2010-08-18T15:28:00.000-07:00

Il simbolo di un'intera generazione!

The official HOWL Web site is now live!

2010-08-13T17:39:00.000-07:00

Sweet window display from City Lights Books!

2010-08-12T13:15:00.000-07:00

New York Magazine's Cover Story on HOWL's James Franco

2010-08-11T01:05:00.000-07:00

The James Franco Project

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The Joy Of Text: Allen Ginsberg's 'Howl' Comes To The Big Screen

2010-07-26T16:26:00.000-07:00

Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s latest film recounts the story of a poem that changed America. Wyndham Wallace reads between the lines on thequietus.com.

Watch the HOWL movie trailer

2010-07-15T23:08:00.000-07:00

HOWL poster unveiled!

2010-07-15T18:03:00.000-07:00

Tuli Kupferberg dies at 86 (NY Times obit)

2010-07-13T21:16:00.000-07:00

Rob Epstein, Tuli Kupferberg, and Jeffrey Friedman, during HOWL research, summer 2005. Watch for our interview with Tuli on the HOWL DVD.

HOWL opens Outfest (Variety article)

2010-07-11T22:38:00.000-07:00

Rob & Jeff at Outfest 2010, where HOWL was the opening-night film. The 2000-seat Orpheum Theater in downtown L.A. was packed!

Before the screening, Glee star Chris Colfer and director Paris Barclay presented Jane Lynch with an achievement award.

Howl at Berlinale 2010 Film Festival

2010-07-06T17:31:00.000-07:00

Howl's Cast and Crew at Sundance 2010

2010-07-01T02:39:00.000-07:00

I NEED TICKETS TO HOWL! So pled the sign at the shuttle bus stop outside Park City’s Eccles Theater on Thurdsay night. Inside, past the phalanx of photographers, past the mobs of bundled-up gawkers looking to get a glimpse at Howl’s decidedly hunky cast, led by James Franco and including Jon Hamm and David Strathairn, Sundance’s sold-out opening night film was set to begin. The buzz for Howl, the homage to Allen Ginsberg’s seminal Beat poem, was topped only by The Runaways, the Joan Jett biopic featuring Twilight’s Kristen Stewart.

Windy City Times gives the Word on Rob Epstein

2010-06-30T16:38:00.000-07:00

HOWL closes Frameline Festival with a sold-out screening at the Castro

2010-06-29T15:53:00.000-07:00

Remembering Peter Orlovsky

2010-06-02T15:40:00.000-07:00

We first met Peter Orlovsky six summers ago, as we were embarking on our film based on the 1955 poem “Howl” by Peter's longtime partner, Allen Ginsberg. Peter was the first person we set out to meet as part of our research. He was then living a quiet retired life in a the woods of New England, lovingly cared for by friends arranged by Allen before his death in 1997. (read more here)

HOWL to screen at Seattle Int'l Film Fest

2010-05-25T17:26:00.000-07:00

June 12, 7pm, Egyptian Theatre

James Franco is Allen Ginsberg, poet laureate of the Beat generation, in this celebration of the work that captured a cultural moment and defined a literary scene. Academy-Award winning filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (The Celluloid Closet, The Times of Harvey Milk) blend narrative, documentary, and animation to achieve a kaleidoscopic portrait of the man and his art. A recreation of the very first reading of "Howl" to a beatnik crowd at San Francisco's Six Gallery in 1955 is juxtaposed with a simulated interview with the poet; brief dramatizations of Ginsberg's life and loves are interspersed with scenes from the landmark obscenity trial that followed the publication of the poem. Dialogue taken verbatim from court recordings as well as transcripts of an interview Ginsberg gave to Life magazine provide insight into his time in a mental institution, his struggles with his homosexuality, and his determination to live and write with vital honesty. Throughout the film, hallucinogenic animated sequences by former Ginsberg illustrator Eric Drooker give brilliant visual life to the poem that pushed the boundaries of art to become one of the great poetic achievements in American literary history.

Special screening at NewFest (NY LBGT Film Festival)

2010-05-18T21:29:00.000-07:00

Saturday, June 5, 8pm
SVA Theater 2
Framed around the landmark obscenity trial surrounding Allen Ginsberg’s career-defining work, HOWL is a star-studded, genre-busting film that shows how far we’ve come with civil rights and how far we have to go.

In 1956, San Francisco poet and bookstore owner Lawrence Ferlinghetti published Ginsberg’s (James Franco, Milk) poem “Howl”, a groundbreaking record of the beat poetry movement that contained references to drug use and homosexuality. Just a few months later, Ferlinghetti was put on trial for his role in publishing taboo literature. While the battle over First Amendment rights rages in the courtroom,HOWL spins off two parallel narratives: one a breathtaking animated re-imaging of the poem in question, and the other a revealing look at Ginsberg’s introduction to beat poetry and homosexuality in 1940s New York City.

Howl features supporting roles by Mary-Louise Parker (“Weeds”),Jon Hamm (“Mad Men”), and Jeff Daniels (The Squid and the Whale), and a gorgeous score by Carter Burwell (No Country for Old Men).

Frameline chooses HOWL as closing night film

2010-05-16T19:56:00.000-07:00

San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival

CLOSING NIGHT FILM & PARTY
Sunday, June 27 @ 7:30pm Castro Theatre

In this highly-anticipated film about the early years of poet Allen Ginsberg, Academy Award winning documentarians Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman bend genres to depict the spark of a literary revolution about Ginsberg's epic poem Howl. James Franco (Milk) shines as the young poet, making waves with his poem, Howl. The film is a hybrid of stories including an imagined recreation of an unpublished interview given to Time in 1957; Howl’s obscenity trial in a San Francisco courtroom; and luminous animation by Ginsberg collaborator Eric Drooker, capturing the essence of the poem. The extraordinary format adds to a feeling of restlessness, a sense that 1950s America is on the cusp of radical change, sentiments that saturate Ginsberg’s poetry. An impressive cast adds depth to this masterpiece of a film, including Jon Hamm ( Mad Men) who’s absolutely brilliant as an attorney representing City Lights, Jeff Daniels, and Mary-Louise Parker. This film is not to be missed!

HOWL Selected as Opening Night of Outfest 2010

2010-05-14T14:31:00.000-07:00

Outfest, the Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization dedicated to nurturing, showcasing and protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) media, announced today that HOWL has been selected as the Opening Night gala of the 28th Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Film Festival at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles on July 8.“HOWL is an important and inspiring movie that is extremely relevant today,” says Kim Yutani, Director of Programming of Outfest. “The film reminds us of the influence of Allen Ginsberg's groundbreaking work, and eloquently tells the story of an artist who challenged the status quo on a personal and artistic level. By selecting HOWL as our Opening Night, we believe that it will set the tone for this year’s festival and celebrate all of the forward-thinking artists that will be part of our exciting line-up.” Adds Kirsten Schaffer, Executive Director of Outfest, “We've had the pleasure of showcasing Rob and Jeffrey's excellent work over the years, and we are proud to continue this relationship and collaborate with such distinguished and visionary filmmakers.”

Provincetown International Film Festival chooses HOWL as opening night film

2010-05-10T22:40:00.000-07:00

Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (recipients of this year's Faith Hubley Memorial Award) navigate a seamless segue from their documentary roots to masterful storytellers. They expand the notion of how a “true story” can be realized on film by not simply relying on facts but enlisting cinematic vision to capture the Zeitgeist of an era. The amazing cast provides the extra passion and urgency that are sure to introduce HOWL to the best minds of a new generation. With James Franco, Jon Hamm, David Strathairn, Jeff Daniels, Mary-Louise Parker, Bob Balaban and Alessandro Nivola (2009 Excellence in Acting honoree).
- John Cooper, Sundance Film Festival

Oscilloscope to release HOWL in U.S.

2010-04-22T11:05:00.000-07:00

Oscilloscope Laboratories announced that it has acquired U.S. distribution rights to 2-time Academy Award® winning director Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s first dramatic narrative HOWL. Starring James Franco in a career-defining performance as Allen Ginsberg, HOWL is the story of how the young poet’s seminal work broke down societal barriers in the face of an infamous public obscenity trial. HOWL was the opening night film at Sundance Film Festival 2010 and also played in competition at 2010 Berlinale. The film was produced by Elizabeth Redleaf and Christine Kunewa Walker of Werc Werk Works, and Epstein and Friedman. Oscilloscope will release HOWL in theaters and VOD on September 24, 2010.

In his famously confessional style, Ginsberg – poet, counter-culture icon, and chronicler of the Beat Generation – recounts the road trips, love affairs, and search for personal liberation that led to HOWL, the most timeless work of his career. HOWL interweaves three stories: the unfolding of the landmark 1957 obscenity trial; an imaginative animated ride through the prophetic masterpiece; and a unique portrait of a man who found new ways to express himself, and in doing so, changed his own life and galvanized a generation.

David Fenkel, co-founder of Oscilloscope says, “At O-Scope we love working with passionate, creative filmmakers who make entertaining and meaningful films, and the team behind HOWL perfectly fit this profile. They put together a great cast, lead by a performance by James Franco that people will be talking about for years.”

Rob & Jeff's comment: “We're very happy that HOWL has found the perfect home and partners. Oscilloscope is the coolest company around.”

About Oscilloscope Laboratories

Oscilloscope Laboratories is a film production and theatrical distribution entity launched in 2008 by Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys. Yauch modeled the company after the indie record labels he grew up around, choosing films and then marketing them with the same artistic integrity with which they were made.
The company, which is an extension of Yauch’s recording studio of the same name, has an in-house DVD distribution and production arm, and the paper packaging is reminiscent of the heyday of LP record jackets. All of the company's DVD packaging is (free of any plastic) printed on FSC Certified 80% post-consumer waste paper and produced in a carbon neutral, hydroelectric plant.

Other Oscilloscope theatrical releases include Yauch's GUNNIN' FOR THAT #1 SPOT, Irena Salina's FLOW, Caroline Suh's FRONTRUNNERS, Kurt Kuenne's DEAR ZACHARY, Kelly Reichardt's WENDY AND LUCY starring Michelle Williams, So Yong Kim's TREELESS MOUNTAIN, Gabriel Medina’s offbeat comedy THE PARANOIDS, the Academy-Award® nominated THE GARDEN from Scott Hamilton Kennedy, Anders Østergaard’s Academy-Award® nominated BURMA VJ, Nati Baratz's UNMISTAKEN CHILD, and Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein’s NO IMPACT MAN.

Recent releases include Oren Moverman’s Academy-Award® nominated THE MESSENGER, starring Woody Harrelson, Ben Foster and Samantha Morton, Henrik Ruben Genz’s Danish thriller TERRIBLY HAPPY, Bradley Rust Gray’s THE EXPLODING GIRL starring Zoe Kazan and Michel Gondry’s personal family documentary THE THORN IN THE HEART. Upcoming releases include Lance Daly’s award-winning Irish film KISSES, the re-release of Jules Dassin’s classic THE LAW.

HOWL screens in Istanbul!

2010-04-07T19:57:00.000-07:00

The Media and Human Rights in America Symposium in Dallas kicks off with a tribute to Rob and a 35mm print screening of THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK.

2010-04-06T12:36:00.000-07:00

Jane Ganahl's story on the making of HOWL on SanFranMag.com

2010-04-01T20:15:00.000-07:00

It’s springtime in New York’s West Village, where a former boutique on Hudson Street has been transformed into a replica of Six Gallery, the former hot spot on Fillmore Street where the Beat movement caught fire in 1955 when Allen Ginsberg unleashed his groundbreaking poem “Howl.” (read more)

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Berlinale - live streaming

2010-02-26T09:45:00.000-08:00

(Click link above then navigate to HOWL for streaming video of the red carpet extravaganza and press conference.)

Elizabeth Redleaf, Rob Epstein, James Franco and Jeffrey Friedman on the red carpet.

photo by Ken Bailey

Peter Travers @ Rolling Stone: "Exhilarating!"

2010-02-25T15:42:00.000-08:00

From ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE Sundance 2010 wrap-up:
"What other film festival would give its opening spot to a movie about a poem by Allen Ginsberg (a stellar performance by James Franco) interspersed with animation and an obscenity trial that puts freedom of speech on the stand? An exhilarating experiment that Sundance was built to nurture. Bravo!" - 3/4/10 issue

"HOWL delights with its audacity..." according to this French critic (en français)

2010-02-22T22:12:00.000-08:00

Jeff & Rob at the Berlinale premiere.
photo by Ken Bailey

Much love and thanks to CITY LIGHTS PUBLISHING / BOOKSTORE, the heart and soul of literary San Francisco since 1953, for their support in HOWL!

2010-02-17T12:22:00.000-08:00

Get your own copy of Ginsberg's magnum opus today!

"The dirtiest book of all is the expurgated book." - Walt Whitman

Howl brings Beat to Berlin film fest

2010-02-17T08:34:00.000-08:00

"Howl", a movie about groundbreaking Beat poet Allen Ginsberg in competition Friday at the Berlin Film Festival, drew warm applause for bringing the written word and the counterculture vividly to life.

The picture stars James Franco ("Milk", "Spider-Man") giving an uncanny performance as the charming, bookish gay bard who electrified audiences in the smoky cafes and bars of San Francisco in the 1950s...

> READ MORE

HOWL: "It's not a biopic..."

2010-02-01T22:57:00.001-08:00

“It manages to capture both a moment in time from the beat era of the late 1950s, and reflect on the relevance of the poems message of isolation. It is told through firsthand accounts from different eras, and different visual styles and media. Howl delves into the concept of measuring the value of art, while standing apart from the other films of the festival as a true work of art itself. Read more about this film after the jump...” » See the full article on ScreenCrave

Hollywood Reporter's FABIO PERIERA reviews “HOWL” at Sundance

2010-01-28T06:59:00.001-08:00

“With any luck, later this year audiences everywhere will get to see Howl, a brilliant film by Academy-Award winning documentary filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. Starring James Franco as a young Allen Ginsburg, the film follows the 1957 trial surrounding the publication of his poem Howl.” » See the full article on The Huffington Post

Sundance first night 2010

2010-01-27T00:43:00.002-08:00

Rob and Jeffrey at Sundance 2010, Opening Night

Family & friends @ Sundance opening

2010-01-26T23:30:00.001-08:00

above, left to right: Bob Balaban, Christine Walker, Rob Epstein, James Franco, Jeffrey Friedman, Jon Hamm, Elizabeth Redleaf, David Straithairn, Treat Williams, at Sundance premiere.

below: the extended Epstein clan.

"Howl has captured a moment in time"

2010-01-26T19:38:00.001-08:00

Howl, at its core, is about the pursuit of honesty through poetic excellence. Of course, it's about much more than that, gay rights, obscenity, the creative process as a whole. But the core of the work? I'm sticking with my honesty/excellence corollary. » See the full article on Film.com

LA Times: In Defense of Howl

2010-01-22T03:10:00.001-08:00

We’re not even 24 hours into Sundance John Cooper-style and you can already hear the banshee wail of disaster that lifted into the snowy night air after “Howl’s” screening Thursday on the festival’s opening night.
It’s the Greek chorus effect, all those voices scrambling over each other to be the first to call for a suppression of the rebellion Cooper promised, and I would argue, delivered with a Mike Tyson gut punch, which left people winded, then windy. » See the full article on The LA Times

HOWL Launches the dramatic film at Sundance

2009-12-02T17:39:00.001-08:00

(January 20, 2010 - Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images North America)

Click on logos below for each of the reviews

Taiwan International Film Festival

2009-10-30T11:50:00.001-07:00

Rob Epstein / Telling Pictures Retrospective

Word is Out, Landmark of LGBT Cinema

2009-08-13T17:18:00.002-07:00

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 19 7:00 pm
Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives

Mariposa Film Group: Peter Adair, Nancy Adair, Veronica Selver, Andrew Brown, Robert Epstein, Lucy Massie Phenix (U.S., 1977)

Mariposa Film Group members in person.
Quite possibly as relevant today as it was on its debut over thirty years ago, Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives is widely considered the first feature-length documentary on gay and lesbian identity. The film presents a diverse group of twenty-six gay and lesbian individuals who describe their struggle to live a decent life in America despite prejudice, discriminatory laws, and society’s unwillingness to treat them with respect and equality. Interviewees include such noteworthy individuals as poet Elsa Gidlow, professor and political activist Sally Gearhart, inventor John Burnside, civil rights leader Harry Hay, and avant-garde filmmaker Nathaniel Dorsky. Peter Adair conceived the project and shared the producing, directing, editing, and photography efforts with five other filmmakers, dubbed the Mariposa Film Group. Among them were Adair’s sister Nancy Adair, who later wrote a companion book for the film, and Rob Epstein, who would go on to direct the Academy Award–winning The Times of Harvey Milk.

Print courtesy of UCLA Film and Television Archive.

The Pacific Film Archive Theater is located at 2575 Bancroft Way (between Telegraph and Bowditch) in Berkeley. Advance tickets are available by calling (510) 642-5249 or visiting http://bampfa.berkeley.edu/tickets

For more information on these and other programs, visit http://bampfa.berkeley.edu/filmseries

President Obama to give Medal of Freedom to Harvey Milk!

2009-08-10T15:18:00.001-07:00

Rob Epstein has been invited by The White House to attend this year's 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom Ceremony. President Obama will present the awards at a ceremony on Wednesday, August 12.

WASHINGTON – President Obama today named 16 recipients of the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom. America’s highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom is awarded to individuals who make an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.

Read the full press release from The White House here.

Ted Kennedy Jr. (left), Kiki Kennedy and Rob Epstein, at the White House Presidential Medal of Freedom Awards where Senator Ted Kennedy and Harvey Milk were both honored.

CA Senator Mark Leno (left), Bruce Cohen, Anne Kronenberg, Dustin Lance Black and Rob Epstein

President Obama awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously to Harvey Milk, as received by Milk's nephew, Stuart Milk.

SF 360 : “Howl” gets animated

2009-08-10T14:46:00.001-07:00

Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman needed a mere 14 shooting days this spring to shoot Howl in Manhattan. That singular fact is both remarkable and deceptive, as preproduction and postproduction require substantially more days, weeks and months. Indeed, the Academy Award-winning documentary makers, making their narrative feature debut with this dramatic saga of Allen Ginsberg’s scintillating, scathing poem and the obscenity charges that landed City Lights publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti in a San Francisco courtroom in 1957, are happy to be back in their comfort zone. “I love the editing process,” Epstein declares. “It’s usually my favorite part. This is when you really feel it coming alive—or not, and have to find ways to make it come alive.” Read the full article here.

Sex in 69: The Sexual Revolution in America

2009-07-21T16:20:00.001-07:00

July 2009
Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman's latest documentary aired Monday July 27 on
The History Channel

SEX IN 69: THE SEXUAL REVOLUTION IN AMERICA
Travel back to 1969 and uncover fascinating trends, people and events that forever changed the way Americans think about and have sex. Viewers will travel from the Playboy Penthouse in Los Angeles to San Francisco's Hippie crash pads, New York's legendary Stonewall Bar, the boardwalk in Atlantic City, a court room in Miami where Jim Morrison was charge with indecency, and other spots across America to meet some of the women and men who found themselves caught between old values and new desires in 1969, and decided to do something about it. Some of them, like Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner, actors Dyan Cannon and Jim Brown, and musician Ray Manzarek of The Doors, will be famous. Others will be average Americans whose lives were transformed by the sexual tides coursing through the nation as the Sixties came to a close. But they will all have one thing in common-- fascinating stories to tell.

Sex in 69: The Sexual Revolution in America is a Telling Pictures Production; Executive Produced by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman; Produced/Written by Mark Page; Associate Producer Emily Osborne; Directors of Photography Allan Palmer, Anthony Savini, Jon Shenk, Buddy Squires; Editor Bill Weber; Music by Doug Hilsinger.

For The History Channel: Executive Producer Julian Hobbs

A celluloid "Howl"

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It's springtime in New York's West Village, where a former boutique on Hudson Street has been transformed into a replica of Six Gallery, the former hot spot on Fillmore Street where the Beat movement caught fire in 1955 when Allen Ginsberg unleashed his groundbreaking poem "Howl".
Waiting quietly to go on camera is James Franco, who portrays the famed poet in Howl, the genre-bending motion picture filmed here over three weeks in March. Due for release early next year, the film will include scripted scenes, verbatim sequences from the obscenity trial that could have landed the poem's publisher, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, in jail, and an animation sequence by Berkeley's Eric Drooker, best known for his New Yorker covers. Read the full review from San Francisco Magazine.

Read the latest news on Howl!

2009-06-05T12:54:00.001-07:00

Oscar winning directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman ("Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt" are in the works on their first narrative feature which looks at poet Allen Ginsberg and the creation of his 1955 masterpiece, "Howl," which is known as one of the principal works of the Beat Generation, and the response to the work that followed which included an obscenity trial against the poem's publisher. James Franco stars as Ginsberg with Gus Van Sant executive producing. Read the full article on Indiewire.

Variety

2009-06-04T17:58:00.001-07:00

Entertainment Weekly - May 15, 2009

2009-06-04T17:43:00.001-07:00

Howling in Bangkok

2009-05-26T23:34:00.000-07:00

A small team from San Francisco traveled to Bangkok to meet with The Monk, Juck Somsamon's crack animation team that will be animating the images created by the wild minds of Eric Drooker and other artists under the direction of John Hays.

Howl crew shot on location in New York City(with everyone wearing "Ginsberg" glasses!)

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Thursday, April 2, 2009:

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It's the final day of principal photography!

We shot more moments from Ginsberg's life, including he and Kerouac fooling around with two poet girls late one night, Allen with Peter Orlovsky at home (based on actual photographs they took of him), and Allen's life in a shady 1950's New York cold water flat. Finally, we shot the scenes of Allen creating Howl in his San Francisco apartment, passionately writing late into the night in a fit of inspiration.

It's been an extraordinary shoot thanks to the remarkable cast and crew - everyone brought their own unique gifts to the table and truly contributed immeasurably to the final result! We thank everyone for their passion and commitment to Howl. Now the post-production process commences... We will keep you updated as the next phase of Howl begins,and the film continues to take shape. Thanks for reading the blog and going on this journey with us through production.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009:

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Today we recreated more moments from Ginsberg's life. Production designer Therese DePrez was able to fashion three very different apartments from various times of Allen's life in one apartment building! So Allen's 1950 coldwater flat, his 1955 San Francisco
apartment, his 1953 Denver back porch, and his 1957 East Village apartment were all just down the hall from each other!

While shooting the movie, directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman were constantly grappling with the film's complex structure. After the first week of filming, they consulted with their editor Jake Pushinsky (editor of "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints"). Jake suggested creating additional material for Neal Cassady, so Rob and Jeffrey wrote two evocative new moments to capture Cassady's seemingly endless travels on the road and equally endless line of girlfriends. It's a much more kinetic and electric way of introducing Cassady into the film.

Friday, March 27, 2009:

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Yet another section of the film was shot today (and will continue next Wednesday) - Allen Ginsberg speaks to an off-screen reporter in 1957 about his life, the events that lead to the creation of Howl, and his thoughts on the trial. These interview segments will be intercut with the trial testimony, the flashbacks through Ginsberg's life, and the animated sequences of the Howl text itself.

James Franco and the directors delved deeply into the material, as Allen confesses directly to camera about his struggles with love, friendship and truly finding his voice as an artist. Take after take, James embodied Ginsberg's mannerisms. Yet James was also able to make it his own and find an intimate way of telling these very personal stories from Ginsberg's life as he struggled with his unrequited love of Jack Kerouac, dealt with his mother's insanity, and finally found love with Peter Orlovsky. Director Jeffrey Friedman played the off-screen reporter who questions Allen throughout the movie, while Rob Epstein directed from behind the camera.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009:

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Today Alessandro Nivola took the stand, playing defense witness Luther Nichols, a literary critic and intellectual who was a San Francisco Examiner book editor for three years. Nichols was a contemporary of Ginsbergs, and he represented a distinctly different point-of-view from the other witnesses. He pointed out the similarities that Howl had to jazz and how it spoke of the displaced post-WWII generation. When McIntosh tried to push Nichols into assigning a sexual connotation to the words "blew" and "blown" in order to show the obscene nature of the poem, Nichols had a clever way of subverting it, by pointing out that "I think it can at one level mean that they were
vagabonds, that they were blown about by natural, literal winds". Nivola created a character that was from a distinctly different generation than all of the other witnesses who testified in the Howl trial.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009:

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Today Jeff Daniels began his intense and inspired performance as English professor David Kirk (we will finish filming his scenes on Thursday). As Kirk, Jeff Daniels seemed to relish every word that came out of his mouth, proclaiming in an authoritative tone that Howl had no literary merit since it did not conform to his "three bases for an objective criticism [of what makes great literature]: form, theme
and opportunity". Kirk considered Voltaire's Candide to be great literature, and he spent a great deal of time studying it. Yet Kirk admitted he made up his mind that Howl had no literary merit "after five minutes". Defense attorney Jake Ehrlich later pointed out eloquently in his closing statement that, "Voltaire's Candide was originally condemned as obscene because it dealt with sex. Words dealing with and describing sex do not destroy literary merit. Seek filth and you will find it. Seek beauty of narration and you will find that too".

Ehrlichs heated questioning of Kirk resulted in a stand off between the prosecution and defense. David Straitharn made McIntosh's struggle palpable, as he sensed that he was losing the case against the slick Ehrlich, suavely played by the great Jon Hamm. At one point, Straitharn stood up out of his seat with indignation at what the prosecution had said, yet he was unable to even utter "I object". Straitharns powerhouse performance revealed that although McIntosh bumbled through his questioning at times, he truly believed that Howl was obscene, and he genuinely wanted to protect society from filth like Ginsberg's poem.

Monday, March 23, 2009:

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Today we had two phenomenal actors on set playing witnesses in the Howl trial.

First, Treat Williams appeared as the defense's star witness, Mark Schorer - a renowned intellectual, one of America's leading critics, and a professor at UC Berkeley in English, as well as Chairman of Graduate Studies in English. (He published three novels, about 75 short stories, and numerous literary criticisms). Treats easy-going demeanor and laid-back intelligence created a character that had nothing to prove; he was assured in his defense of Howl and was not tripped up by McIntosh's insistence on dissecting specific words in the poem as part of his quest to find obscenity in Howl.

Treat's demeanor was a sharp contrast to the prosecution witnesses dogmatic approach as to what constituted great literature and what was mere smut. This attitude was brilliantly and fiercely embodied by Mary-Louise Parker, bedecked in a blonde wig as Gail Potter, a teacher and radio personality, who bragged in her testimony that she had
rewritten the classic dramas Faust and Everyman, which unintentionally drew chuckles from the courtroom audience. A self-satisfied smile crept onto Mary-Louise's face as she said that without a doubt, "I think [Howl] has no literary merit".

Incredibly, every word of testimony in this film was taken directly from the transcripts of this remarkable trial.

Friday, March 20, 2009:

2009-04-06T12:06:00.001-07:00

Today we began shooting the courtroom battle over Howl's literary merit. The publisher of Howl, Lawrence Ferlinghetti at City Lights Book Shop, was brought to trial for publishing obscene material. Bob Balaban played Judge Clayton Horn, who presided over the 1957 trial; David Straitharn played Ralph McIntosh, the prosecuting attorney who was in a bit over his head; and Jon Hamm was legendary defense attorney Jake "The Master" Ehrlich. Though we were shooting at a courtroom in the Bronx, the period set dressing and vibrant lighting created the feeling that we were in a sun-soaked 1957 courtroom in San Francisco. Forty extras in period clothes filled the courtroom; they were all positioned based on actual photographs from the trials that showed a courtroom full of attentive spectators. The courtroom scenes were being shot in a classical style, reminiscent of courtroom dramas from "To Kill a Mockingbird" to "The Verdict", in contrast with the looser style of the rest of the film.

As with most feature films, we had to shoot the scenes out of sequence because of actor availability, and so we began with the end - Judge Horn (Bob Balaban) delivering the verdict. As performed by Bob Balaban, the verdict became an eloquent monologue that beautifully summed up the importance of free speech. Judge Horn asked, "Would there be any freedom of press or speech if one must reduce his vocabulary to vapid innocuous euphemism? An author should be real in treating his subject and be allowed to express his thoughts and ideas in his own words." (Right before the Howl trial, Horn had been critiqued by local press for sentencing four lady shoplifters to
attend Cecil B. DeMilles "The Ten Commandments" and write essays on the epic's moral lessons. It seems that the criticism he received for that verdict must have weighed heavily on his decision in the Howl case).

After shooting the verdict scene, we then went to the very beginning of the trial and shot prosecutor Ralph McIntosh's opening statement. His befuddlement was evident as he began, "I want to show on the first page inside of Howl it says 'The Pocket Poets Series, Number Four, City Lights Book Shop, San Francisco'. However, on the following
page, way down at the bottom, is 'All these books are published in heaven'. And I dont quite understand that, but let the record show anyway, your Honor, it's published by the City Lights Pocketbook Shop". McIntosh objected to specific words in Howl as being obscene, yet he didnt understand the poem as a whole, as he openly admitted later in the trial, and he did not even seem to care about Ginsberg's intentions. McIntosh had tried many smut cases in the past against pornographic movies, nudist magazines, and Jane Russells appearance in Howard Hughes' "The Outlaw".

Six Gallery Set:

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"Six Gallery Set"

Neal Cassady (Jon Prescott) in the Six Gallery.

Peter Orlovsky (Aaron Tveit) in the Six Gallery

Jack Kerouac (Todd Rotondi) on a fire escape (recreating a photograph of the real Kerouac).

More photos from the set of Howl:

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James Franco, with directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, on the set of Howl.

Director Jeffrey Friedman watches a scene play out in the courtroom

Director of Photography Ed Lachman

Director Rob Epstein in the courtroom set.

Script supervisor Tony Pettine discusses a scene with directors Jeffrey Friedman and Rob Epstein in the courtroom.

Assistant Director Tom Fatone and 2nd 2nd Assistant Director Kim Thompson in the courtroom set.

Photos from production photographer JoJo Whilden

2009-03-26T20:15:00.001-07:00

Directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman on the set of the Six Gallery.

2009-03-26T20:04:00.001-07:00

Howl composer Carter Burwell makes a cameo in the Six Gallery playing the bongos.

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From a scene in Howl- a Cezanne painting that partly inspired Ginsberg's style.

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Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman filming in the streets of the East Village. They go over a shot while director of photography Ed Lachman checks his light meter.

Thursday, March 19, 2009:

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Yesterday and today we recreated the Six Gallery in a vacant West Village storefront. The Six Gallery is where Allen Ginsberg read Howl publicly for the first time. Our ingenious production designer Therese DePrez (High Fidelity, American Splendor, Hedwig and the Angry Inch) created an extraordinary space - a funky gallery, complete with artwork wherever you looked, low-hanging lights, mismatched tables and chairs, a piano, a hookah, and all of the odds and ends you would expect to find in this place where a group of poets gathered in 1955 to hear Ginsberg's revolutionary new kind of poetry. Theatrical smoke was pumped through the room as a final touch to add more atmosphere.

For the first day of shooting at the Six Gallery, over thirty extras filled the space, as well as the actors playing Kerouac, Cassady and Orlovsky - they each reacted to Howl in their own personal ways, as different stanzas meant different things to each of them. Kerouac passed around a bottle of wine and shouted, "Go! Go!" just as he was reported to have done that night in 1955.

James Franco recited the poem as Ginsberg did, only James had to do it take after take for two days (the first day with extras, the second day by himself). He tirelessly recited it with as much conviction on the evening of the second day as he had the morning of the first day. Even when he was off camera, James read the poem full out in order to get the best reaction shots from the crowd. James commitment was extraordinary and his passion evident in every take. He made his way through the lengthy and gut-wrenching poem, finding both the humor and heartbreak in each verse of Howl the cadences of James voice brought to life the spirit of Ginsberg. James' months and months of research on Ginsberg for this movie was evident even in how he carried his body when performing as young Ginsberg - the way he raised his hand in the air for emphasis was just like Ginsberg's gesticulations in various photographs.

We also filmed a small moment between Ginsberg and his longtime lover Peter Orlovsky, sitting back-to-back on two opposite park benches (based on an actual photo taken of them in Paris). Though they weren't even facing each other, the intimacy between them was palpable. Peter is played by Aaron Tveit, who will be seen in the forthcoming Broadway musical Next to Normal. (Also, he will play the Leonardo DiCaprio role in a musical version of Catch Me If You Can on Broadway next season).