As director Joe Berlinger’s 2014 Sundance Film Festival documentary “WHITEY: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA V. JAMES J. BULGER” prepares for its premiere screening in Park City, the filmmaker revealed today that the film contains the first-ever interview with James “Whitey” Bulger, the gang leader who ran Boston’s criminal underworld for over 25 years and who was recently sentenced to two life terms after sixteen years of being on the FBI’s Most Wanted List.
“The goal was not to give Bulger a platform per se, but rather for his views to be a catalyst to provoke conversation that the narrow scope of his trial prevented,” shared Director Joe Berlinger. Many trial observers were disappointed that Bulger was not allowed to present certain key arguments or witnesses, which led him to forgo testifying before a jury. “While some may view the recorded phone calls with Bulger and his defense attorney J.W. Carney, Jr. as an apologia for Bulger, nothing could be further from the truth, as the film goes into significant detail about Bulger’s crimes and the impact on his victims, and we allow the prosecutors to refute Bulger’s claims.”
This interview from November, given specifically for Berlinger’s film, represents a historic change in the huge volume of media coverage to date. “I can’t think of another contemporary figure who has spawned so much media attention without actually having heard from that person himself,” commented Berlinger. “That is why my team and I worked so hard to obtain this access. Many outstanding reporters and researchers have spoken for Bulger in the myriad of books, TV shows and movies that have been created, but Bulger has never spoken for himself until now.”
The only previous public audio record on file was retrieved via law enforcement wiretaps from almost three decades ago. With the Federal Government declaring Bulger off limits for interviews, Berlinger’s film provides critical and exclusive insight into Bulger’s version of the events that took place in Boston and allowed him to reign over a criminal empire for years. In the film, Bulger refutes many of the widely accepted beliefs about his history, including his denial that he was ever an FBI informant. Instead, he gives details on his claim of deep levels of government corruption that allowed him to stay in power for over 25 years.
“WHITEY: United States of America v. James J. Bulger” captures the sensational trial of infamous gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger, using the legal proceedings as a springboard to explore allegations of corruption within the highest levels of law enforcement. Embedded for months with retired FBI and State Police, Federal Prosecutors, victims, lawyers, gangsters and journalists, Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Joe Berlinger examines Bulger's relationship with the FBI and Department of Justice that allowed him to reign over a criminal empire in Boston for decades. Pulling back the curtain on long-held Bulger mythology, the film challenges conventional wisdom by detailing shocking, new allegations. With unprecedented access, Berlinger's latest crime documentary offers a universal tale of human frailty, opportunism, deception, and the often elusive nature of truth and justice.
The film was directed and produced by Joe Berlinger and produced by Caroline Suh. Sidney Beaumont, Jon Kamen, Dave O’Connor and Justin Wilkes of Radical Media and Amy Entelis and Vinnie Malhotra of CNN Films serve as executive producers.
The film premieres Saturday, January 18th at 2:30PM at the MARC Theater in Park City, Utah. The film will also play in Boston as part of Sundance Film Festival USA on January 30th.
For more information on this story, please visit: http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2014/01/17/nr-brooke-james-whitey-bulger.cnn.html
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RADICAL MEDIA
RadicalMedia is a global studio that creates some of the world’s most innovative content across all forms of media. The company develops, produces and distributes television, feature films, commercials, music programming, live events, mobile applications, digital content and design. The company has produced a number of award-winning projects, including the Academy Award® nominated documentary directed by Joe Berlinger, Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory; as well as Berlinger’s Emmy® winning film Under African Skies: Paul Simon's Graceland Journey; the Academy Award®-winning documentary The Fog of War; the Grammy Award®-winning Concert for George; and the Independent Spirit Award®-winning Metallica: Some Kind of Monster; the pilot episode of the Emmy® and Golden Globe® winning series Mad Men; six seasons of the series Iconoclasts for the Sundance Channel; the Emmy®-nominated series Oprah's Master Class and Visionaries for OWN; the Ron Howard-directed documentary titled Made In America, featuring Jay Z, Pearl Jam and up-and-coming artists from Philadelphia for Showtime Network; the Joe Berlinger documentary Hank: Five Years From The Brink, featuring former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, produced for Bloomberberg Businessweek and launched exclusively on Netflix; David Blaine: Real or Magic, featuring Woody Allen, Robert DeNiro, Kanye West, Ricky Gervais and many more for ABC Network; and Britney: For the Record, Nicki Minaj: My Time Now, Drake: Better Than Good Enough, Lady Gaga: Inside the Outside, and Miley: The Movement, all for MTV Networks. The company has garnered numerous accolades for innovative digital initiatives such as Lincoln Presents: Hello, Again,The Johnny Cash Project,Arcade Fire's The Wilderness Downtown, the Sting 25 App and the Gagosian Gallery's iPad App, all recipients of the Cannes Lions. RadicalMedia has earned two Palme d'Or Awards at the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival. The company has won numerous Emmys®, Webbys®, D&AD Pencils, One Show Pencils, MTV VMA Awards, Clios, Art Directors Club medals, the prestigious Smithsonian National Design Award for Communications Media, NASA Awards and just about every accolade and trophy associated with the advertising and marketing industries, in both traditional and new media. www.radicalmedia.com
CNN FILMS
CNN Films brings documentaries beyond the small screen by developing strategic partnerships to leverage distribution opportunities at film festivals and in theaters. Amy Entelis, senior vice president of talent and content development for CNN Worldwide, and Vinnie Malhotra, senior vice president of development and acquisitions for CNN Worldwide, oversee the acquisition strategy of documentaries for CNN Films. Malhotra manages the day-to-day operation of CNN Films, and works directly with filmmakers to develop original projects.
