Content Media Acquires International Sales Rights to
Alex Gibney¹s Scientology Documentary ‘Going Clear’
Ahead of Sundance Premiere
Los Angeles, CA January 15, 2015 – Content Media announced today that it has acquired international sales rights to Alex Gibney’s much anticipated Scientology documentary “Going Clear: Scientology and The Prison of Belief”. The film will have its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this month.
Academy Award® winner Alex Gibney (“Taxi to the Dark Side”) wrote and directed the film based on the book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright. Gibney profiles eight former members of the church of Scientology, whose most prominent adherents include A-list Hollywood celebrities, shining a light on how the church cultivates true believers, including their experiences and what they are willing to do in the name of religion.
The powerful new film highlights the Church’s origins – from its roots in the mind of founder L. Ron Hubbard to its rise to popularity in Hollywood and beyond. The heart of the film is a series of shocking details by former insiders, including high-ranking and recognizable members such as acclaimed screenwriter Paul Haggis (“Crash”), as they describe the systematic history of abuse and betrayal by Church officials, including the current leadership of the church. A provocative tale of ego, exploitation, and lust for power, “Going Clear: Scientology and The Prison of Belief” premieres on Sunday January 25th at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.
HBO has US television rights to “Going Clear” and is eyeing a March 16, 2015 airdate for the documentary.
Gibney’s company, Jigsaw Productions is a partner company of Content Media.
Campfire, one of Content’s other partner companies, will also attend Sundance with Rodney Ascher’s THE NIGHTMARE, which screens in the Midnight section.
In addition to “Going Clear,” Content’s international sales slate currently includes the romantic comedy “Comet” starring Justin Long and Emmy Rossum; the intense horror ‘The Diabolical’ starring Ali Larter; the intense drama The Eichmann Show starring Martin Freeman and Anthony LaPaglia; ‘Ocsar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost‘ voiced by Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie; the uplifting emotional drama ‘Life at these Speeds’ starring Billy Crudup, Graham Rogers and Sam Rockwell; ‘Janis: Little Girl Blue’ directed by Academy® Award nominated Amy Berg; the spy thriller ‘Newcomer’ starring James Floyd and Anthony LaPaglia; Academy® Award winning director Mike van Diem returns with the romantic comedy ‘The Surprise’; Caradog James’ directing the supernatural thriller ‘Don’t Knock Twice’; the supernatural heist thriller ‘The Trust’; the extraordinary, moving and white-knuckle drive with one of the greatest movie stars of all time documentary ‘Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans‘.
CREDITS – “Going Clear: Scientology and The Prison of Belief “
Writer/Director: Alex Gibney
Based on the book by Lawrence Wright
Producers: Alex Gibney Kristen Vaurio and Lawrence Wright
Editor: Andy Grieve
Director of Photography: Samuel Painter
For HBO; supervising producer: Sara Bernstein
Executive producer: Sheila Nevins
About Content Media Corporation
Content Media Corporation Ltd is a London and LA based private company that owns and distributes a significant library of film, television, and digital assets.
The Company’s library of rights includes over 4,000 hours of television programming, 200 hours of digital programming and 275 feature films.
Content Media recently closed a multi-faceted deal with Bruno Wu’s Beijing-based Seven Stars Entertainment and Media, Ltd., in which Content acquired the Alive Group of companies allowing Content to distribute its extensive library of film and television rights through the Alive Group to the Chinese market, as well as a direct equity investment by Seven Stars into Content
The Film sales division launched in 2002 and represents high profile, commercial feature films with great artistic and theatrical ambition. In addition to handling worldwide sales, marketing, and publicity, the company assists film producers in securing financing.
About Jigsaw Productions
Jigsaw Productions is home to director Alex Gibney, one of the most important and provocative documentary filmmakers working today. As such, the company has produced some of the most acclaimed documentary films in recent years, including the Academy Award®-winning “Taxi to the Dark Side,” the Oscar® nominated “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,” the multiple Emmy Award-winning “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God,” Showtime’s Emmy-winning “History of the Eagles,” and the Sundance-premiering “We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks.” More recent releases include “Finding Fela,” a film about Nigerian Afrobeat musician and activist Fela Kuti, and “Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown,” which garnered record audiences this fall on HBO. Upcoming projects include a four-hour documentary about Frank Sinatra for HBO.
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