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Far From the Tree Documentary Opens Nationwide July 20


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Dear Reader,

It’s been a while since I sent you a newsletter, but lots has been happening. At the top of the list is the release of the documentary of Far from the Tree, which opens on July 20th in New York (at IFC Center and JCC Manhattan), on the 27th in Los Angeles (at Laemmle’s Royal Theatre), then nationwide in the weeks that follow. I’ve put the current schedule below, with ticket links and notice of the screenings after which I will do a Q&A.

Making a documentary is a very different process from writing a book; a book recounts what has happened while a documentary pursues what is happening. The film of Far from the Tree is its own creation, capturing and extending the real message of the book. It’s intimate and humane and in some places funny. It tells the stories of six families, including my own. Far from the Tree was directed by Rachel Dretzin and is being distributed by Sundance Selects. It will be available for download in August, but we hope to get you to come see it in a theater if you can. It’s large in its ambitions and plays to great effect on the big screen.

We’ve worked on it for more than three years, going deep into the lives of families with children who are different, looking at the psychology of claiming supposed defects as loci of triumph. During the time we were making it, there was a presumption within American and British society that people who were marginal deserved their place in the national discourse; in this new era of exclusion, the stories of remarkable people who are outside the mainstream feel increasingly political. This is a film about the diversity that has made America great.

Come watch it if you can.

My best always,

Andrew

Sundance Selects and Participant Media present Far from the Tree: A Film by Rachel Dretzin. Opening in theaters and VOD July 20, 2018.

Screening Schedule (Corrected and Updated)

Friday, July 20, 2018
IFC Center, New York, New York
Q&A with Dretzin and Solomon: 7/20 @ 5:05 PM, 7:25 PM;
7/21 @ 5:05 PM, 7:25 PM
JCC Manhattan, New York, New York
Q&A with Dretzin and Solomon: 7/20 @ 3:00 PM
Q&A with Dretzin: 7/22 @ 2:00 PM, 4:30 PM

Friday, July 27, 2018
Royal Theatre, Los Angeles, California
Q&A with Dretzin and Solomon: 7/27 @ 7:45 PM;
7/28 @ 10:00 AM, 5:30 PM, 7:45 PM
Film Society Lincoln Center, New York, New York

Friday, August 3, 2018
Albany Twin, Albany, California
Rialto Cinemas Elmwood, Berkeley, California
Laemmle Glendale, Glendale, California
Opera Plaza Cinemas, San Francisco, California
Town Center 5, Encino, California
Playhouse 7, Pasadena, California
Bethesda Row Cinema, Bethesda, Maryland
Kendall Square Cinema, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Q&A with Dretzin: 8/3 @ 7:00 PM; 8/4 @ 4:35 PM, 7:00 PM
Lagoon Cinema, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Roslyn Cinemas 4, Roslyn Heights, New York
Ritz at the Bourse, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The Magnolia, Dallas, Texas
West End Cinema, Washington, DC

Friday, August 10, 2018
Shea 14, Scottsdale, Arizona
Town Center, Encino, California
Tristone Cinemas Palm Desert, Palm Desert, California
Osio Plaza Cinema, Monterey, California
Playhouse 7, Pasadena, California
3Below Theaters and Lounge, San Jose, California
Laemmle’s Monica Film Center, Santa Monica, California
Mayan Theatre, Denver, Colorado
Palace 17, Hartford, Connecticut
Criterion Cinemas, New Haven, Connecticut
Burns Court Cinemas, Sarasota, Florida
Midtown Art Cinemas 8, Atlanta, Georgia
Martha’s Vineyard Film Center, Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts
Plaza Frontenac Cinema, Frontenac, Missouri
Clairidge Cinemas, Montclair, New Jersey
CCA Cinematheque, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Cinema 100, White Plains, New York
Tin Pan Theater, Bend, Oregon
Criterion Cinemas at Movieland, Richmond, Virginia

Friday, August 17, 2018
Mary D. Fisher Theatre, Sedona, Arizona
Nickelodeon 4, Santa Cruz, California
Cosford Cinema, Coral Gables, Florida
Century Centre Cinema, Chicago, Illinois
Q&A with Solomon: 8/17 @ 7:15 PM; 8/18 @ 1:45 PM, 4:30 PM
Keystone Art Cinema, Indianapolis, Indiana
Village Cinema, Louisville, Kentucky
Little Cinema/Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Spectrum 8 Theatres, Albany, New York
Grail Moviehouse, Asheville, North Carolina
Chelsea Theater, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Red Cinemas Midtown Stadium 1, Greensboro, North Carolina
Gateway Film Center, Columbus, Ohio
Living Room Theaters, Portland, Oregon
Harris Theatre, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Wolfchase Cinema Grill, Memphis, Tennessee
Santikos Bijou Cinema Bistro, San Antonio, Texas
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Winchester, Virginia
Varsity Theatre, Seattle, Washington

Friday, August 24, 2018
Hillcrest Cinemas, San Diego, California
Fort Wayne Cinema Center, Fort Wayne, Indiana
Frontier Café, Brunswick, Maine
Amherst Cinema Arts Center, Amherst, Massachusetts
Tivoli Cinemas, Kansas City, Missouri
Downing Film Center, Newburgh, New York
Cedar Lee Theatres, Cleveland Heights, Ohio
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas
Broadway Centre Cinemas, Salt Lake City, Utah
Liberty Theatre, Camas, Washington
Dragonfly Cinema, Port Orchard, Washington

Monday, August 27, 2018
Beartooth Theatre Pub & Grill, Anchorage, Alaska

Wednesday, August 29, 2018
Naro Expanded Cinema, Norfolk, Virginia

Friday, August 31, 2018
Rialto 8, The Villages, Florida
Movies at the Museum, Portland, Maine
CinemaSalem, Salem, Massachusetts
Celebration Cinema Woodland 14, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Moxie Cinema 2, Springfield, Missouri
Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center, Lincoln, Nebraska
Guild Cinema, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Cinemapolis 5, Ithaca, New York
Hot Docs, Ted Rogers Cinema, Toronto, Ontario
Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon

Friday, September 7, 2018
State Theatre, Modesto, California
Bedford Playhouse, Bedford, New York

Wednesday, September 19, 2018
Boedecker Theater/Dairy Center for the Arts, Boulder, Colorado

Friday, September 21, 2018
Fredonia Opera House, Fredonia, New York
Upstate Films, Rhinebeck, New York

 

 

Video-on-Demand

On July 27, Far from the Tree will also available for viewing on demand from the following cable providers: Altice (Optimum), AT&T, Bend Broadband, Buckeye, Comcast (Xfinity), Cox, DirecTV, Frontier, Guadalupe Valley, Hotwire Communications, MetroCast Cablevision, Midcontinent Communications, RCN, Spectrum, Suddenlink, Verizon (Fios), WOW Internet Cable.

 

About the Film

Far from the Tree: A Documentary Review

These are stories fundamentally about how love enables families, when coupled with steadfast determination, to overcome their pain and the stigma they may feel; and it is about how individuals can come to accept themselves, to have a good life – a life with dignity.

Far from the Tree: A Triumphant Study of Identity, Difference, Love, and Family

While this is, on one level, a movie about disability and difference, it succeeds in being a more universally relatable film about family and an investigation into the very nature of family itself, in all of its diverse messy glory.

SalonTalks Interviews Andrew Solomon & Far from the Tree Director Rachel Dretzin

The new documentary, based on Andrew Solomon’s book of the same name, explores the depth of parents’ love as they raise children with conditions such as autism, Down syndrome and dwarfism.

Far from the Tree Asks: How Do We Decide What to Celebrate?

The film profiles a number of people with forms of difference — including dwarfism, autism, and Down syndrome — to ask an important question: What do we decide to celebrate?

Far from the Tree Premiere: Q&A with Andrew Solomon & Director Rachel Dretzin

Following the premiere of the documentary Far from the Tree at the DOC NYC Festival, the author and director take questions from the audience.

 

Preview & Festival Screenings

07/12/18   Far from the Tree, The Elms, Newport, Rhode Island

07/16/18   Far from the Tree Preview Screening & Q&A, JCC Manhattan

07/17/18   Far from the Tree Preview Screening & Q&A, West Village, Manhattan

07/19/18   Far from the Tree Preview Screening & Q&A, New York Public Library

07/26/18   Far from the Tree Preview Screening & Q&A, Los Angeles, California

08/01/18   Far from the Tree, GlobeDocs Film Festival, Brookline, Massachusetts

09/11/18   Far from the Tree Screening & Q&A, Newtown, Connecticut