By Jake Coyle, Film Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --The documentary about several women who have accused Russell Simmons of sexual abuse has found a distributor after Oprah Winfrey's exit from the film left it in the lurch.
HBO Max on Monday said it acquired Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering's film, "On the Record," following its premiere last week at the Sundance Film Festival. Along with other stories, "On the Record" tracks the decision of music executive Drew Dixon to publicly state that her then-boss Simmons raped her at his New York home in 1995.
Simmons, the co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, has denied all accusations of sexual abuse.
"On the Record" had been set to be released by Apple TV Plus, with Winfrey as an executive producer. But in the weeks ahead of the film's Sundance premiere, Winfrey departed the film because she said she that while she believed Dixon, she felt more reporting was needed on her story.
Yet "On the Record" made a strong impression at Sundance, where standing ovations greeted Dixon and other accusers, including Sil Lai Abrams and Sheri Hines. Critics called the film a powerful documentary that brings issues of race into #MeToo discussions.
"The fierce determination of Drew Dixon and all the women who bravely chose to share their stories in 'On the Record' moved us profoundly," said Sarah Aubrey, head of original content at HBO Max, in a statement.
Local school staple “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” from 1939 hits the big screen nationwide
Most Maine schoolchildren know about the boy lost for more than a week in 1939 after climbing the state's tallest mountain. Now the rest of the U.S. is getting in on the story.
Opening in 650 movie theaters on Friday, "Lost on a Mountain in Maine" tells the harrowing tale of 12-year-old Donn Fendler, who spent nine days on Mount Katahdin and the surrounding wilderness before being rescued. The gripping story of survival commanded the nation's attention in the days before World War II and the boy's grit earned an award from the president.
For decades, Fendler and Joseph B. Egan's book, published the same year as the rescue, has been required reading in many Maine classrooms, like third-grade teacher Kimberly Nielsen's.
"I love that the overarching theme is that Donn never gave up. He just never quits. He goes and goes," said Nielsen, a teacher at Crooked River Elementary School in Casco, who also read the book multiple times with her own kids.
Separated from his hiking group in bad weather atop Mount Katahdin, Fendler used techniques learned as a Boy Scout to survive. He made his way through the woods to the east branch of the Penobscot River, where he was found more than 30 miles (48 kilometers) from where he started. Bruised and cut, starved and without pants or shoes, he survived nine days by eating berries and lost 15 pounds (7 kilograms).
The boy's peril sparked a massive search and was the focus of newspaper headlines and nightly radio broadcasts. Hundreds of volunteers streamed into the region to help.
The movie builds on the children's book, as told by Fendler to Egan, by drawing upon additional interviews and archival footage to reinforce the importance of family, faith and community during difficult times,... Read More