RI Filmmakers Chad & Michelle Verdi Join Oscar Winning Director Martin Scorsese's Passion Project, "The New York Review of Books: A 50 YEAR ARGUMENT" as Executive Producers

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Jul 08, 2014, 01:30 ET

EAST GREENWICH, R.I., July 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Verdi Productions is pleased to announce that RI filmmakers Chad & Michelle Verdi have joined Oscar winning director Martin Scorsese's passion project "The New York Review of Books: A 50 YEAR ARGUMENT" as Executive Producers. HBO DOCUMENTARY FILMS will present the film in association with SIKELIA productions and Verdi Productions.

The Documentary Filmed by Martin Scorsese & David Tedeschi tells the story of the papers founding over fifty years ago during the New York City newspaper strike of 1963. America's leading journal of ideas has pursued its goal with rigor, a unique style and more than its share of controversy. The New York Review of Books: A 50 Year Argument, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Martin Scorsese and his longtime documentary collaborator David Tedeschi, rides the waves of literary, political and cultural history in much the same way as the paper itself.

Provocative, idiosyncratic and incendiary, the film weaves rarely seen archival material, contributor interviews and excerpts from writings by such icons as James Baldwin, Gore Vidal, and Joan Didion with original verité footage filmed in the Review's West Village office. These scenes reflect the humming, restless energy of a magazine that, heading into its second half-century, still feels as vital as its indefatigable founding editor, Robert Silvers. Confrontation and intelligent argument are in its DNA, as illustrated in the documentary by the skirmish between Vidal and Norman Mailer over women's liberation, Mary McCarthy's jeremiad against American hegemony in Vietnam, Mark Danner's investigation into the use of enhanced interrogation during the Iraq war, and Michael Greenberg's analysis of the Occupy movement. Joan Didion's reading from her quietly furious explication of the 1989 Central Park Jogger Case, filmed at the recent fiftieth anniversary event at New York's Town Hall, exemplifies the film's approach: honor the writers, the writing, and the paper's determination to reveal the truth in all its complexity.

The film captures the power of ideas in shaping history. "Magazines don't change the world," says contributor Avishai Margalit, "but they shape a certain kind of climate of ideas. Influence is like the knight in chess, one move straight and then diagonal. It doesn't go in straight lines." The film documents this extraordinary process, through the inimitable filmmaking style of Martin Scorsese.

Award winning producer Chad A. Verdi stated, "My wife Michelle and I are very excited about being involved in such a great project and look forward to the premiere in September." Verdi added, "this is one of many projects that we will executive produce with Mr Scorsese, and his producing partner Emma Koskoff over the next few years. We will announce our involvement in a new project in the very near future."

Variety reference article : http://variety.com/2014/film/reviews/film-review-the-50-year-argument-1201254846/

For more information, please contact:

Mary Larsen, Executive Coordinator
[email protected]
+1-401-884-0655

Verdi Productions & The Woodhaven Production Company
253 Main Street East Greenwich, RI 02818
Verdifilms.com, Woodhavenfilms.com

Chad A. Verdi bio:http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3838148/?ref_=fn_al_nm
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/verdiproductions
Bleed For This IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1620935/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

www.verdifilms.com
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SOURCE Verdi Productions