HOWL opens Outfest (Variety article)

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 opens Outfest (Variety article)

Howl's Cast and Crew at Sundance 2010

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.

Howl's Cast and Crew at Sundance 2010

HOWL to screen at Seattle Int'l Film Fest

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.

HOWL to screen at Seattle Int'l Film Fest

Frameline chooses HOWL as closing night film

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!

Frameline chooses HOWL as closing night film

HOWL Selected as Opening Night of Outfest 2010

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.”

HOWL Selected as Opening Night of Outfest 2010

Provincetown International Film Festival chooses HOWL as opening night film

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

Provincetown International Film Festival chooses HOWL as opening night film

Oscilloscope to release HOWL in U.S.

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.

Oscilloscope to release HOWL in U.S.

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

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

Berlinale - live streaming

(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

Berlinale - live streaming

Peter Travers @ Rolling Stone: "Exhilarating!"

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

Peter Travers @ Rolling Stone: "Exhilarating!"

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

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

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

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

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











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

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

Howl brings Beat to Berlin film fest

"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 brings Beat to Berlin film fest

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

“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

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

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

“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

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

Sundance first night 2010

Rob and Jeffrey at Sundance 2010, Opening Night

Sundance first night 2010

Family & friends @ Sundance opening

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.

Family & friends @ Sundance opening

"Howl has captured a moment in time"

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

"Howl has captured a moment in time"

LA Times: In Defense of Howl

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

LA Times: In Defense of Howl

HOWL Launches the dramatic film at Sundance

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

Click on logos below for each of the reviews

HOWL Launches the dramatic film at Sundance