LOGLINE
Two young friends abandon their peaceful lives in Canada for an uprising in their
homeland of Libya, fueled by their hatred of Dictator Muammar Gaddafi, these
untrained fighters join an unconventional war and risk everything to reach the front
lines of battle.
SYNOPSIS
An intimate tale of friendship and revolution, this coming of age story documents
the journey of two young friends, Hamid (26) and Tarek (21), who abandon their
peaceful lives as students in Canada to join an unconventional war in their
homeland of Libya.
Hamid and Tarek have never fired a gun, but in 2011 they run recklessly toward the
war, fueled by their hatred of Muammar Gaddafi and their desire to be part of
history. Once they arrive, their paths diverge. Hamid blazes ahead with fearless
enthusiasm, and with a camera in hand he is invited to film the front lines by rebel
forces, easily fitting in with the boyish camaraderie on the battlefield. Tarek's
journey is more difficult, introspective and unsure, consistently plagued by
obstacles. He fights relentlessly against his destiny, ignoring all warnings that
suggest his single-minded ambition to reach the frontline may have tragic
consequences.
For eight months, director Rachel Beth Anderson, documented raw moments of
personal and breathtakingly dangerous acts of war and sacrifice as Hamid and
Tarek join the rebels taking on Gaddafi's army. The film captures the chaos and
giddiness of revolution, the brutal loss of lives and innocence, and a deeply
intimate view charting the young men’s decent into war as they discover who they
are and what they are capable of. In Tarek's words, “The end of the story is different
than what I thought."
ABOUT THE FILM
Official Website: http://www.firsttofall.com/
EPK: https://www.presskit.to/firsttofall
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FirstToFall.themovie
Twitter: @FirstToFallFILM
VHX, pre-order film and deleted scenes: http://firsttofall.vhx.tv/
‘First To Fall’ was a Gucci/TriBeCa grant recipient (2012) and had its World Premier
screening at the International Documentary Film Festival (IDFA) in late 2013.
In 2014 the film was a winner of two jury awards at the investigative journalism
festival, FIGRA, and will be featured as the Best of Fest winner at the Columbus
International Film Festival.
The film has continued to screen over 20 times in 9 countries. Most notably: the
Human Rights Watch Film Festival in London/New York, the Frontline Club in
London/Prauge, the Kickstarter Film Festival in New York/Los Angeles/London, the
Bronx Documentary Center, Harvard University, and at the Bayeux-Calvados Award
for War Correspondents.
SCREENING SCHEDULE
11/22 Columbus International Film Festival (WINNER: BEST OF FEST) – Columbus, OH
11/19 Mary Ripma Ross Theater Special Screening w/Q&A - Lincoln, NE
11/02 International Random Film Festival – Gdynia, Poland
10/24 Harvard University Screening – Cambridge, MA
10/18 Kickstarter Film Festival - London, UK
10/16 – 10/19 La Femme International Film Festival - Los Angeles. CA
10/12 Bayeux Award for War Correspondents – Bayeux, France
10/10 – 10/19 Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival - Hot Springs, AK
10/03 30 Under 30 Film Festival – Manhattan, NYC
09/24 – 10/08 Festival do Rio - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
09/18 Open Show – San Francisco, CA
09/2014 Kickstarter Film Festival - Los Angeles, CA
09/2014 Bronx Documentary Center Screening – Bronx, NY
09/2014 Sea of Glass Center Screening – Tuscon, AZ
08/2014 Beyond Borders Festival – Edinburgh, Scotland
08/2014 Latchis Theater Screening – Brattleboro, VT
07/2014 Kickstarter Film Festival - Brooklyn, NY
06/2014 Human Rights Watch Film Festival New York (US Premiere) – NY, NY
06/2014 Biografilm (Italian Premiere) – Bologna, Italy
06/2014 Frontline Club – Prauge, Czech Republic
04/2014 Cinemazero – Pordenone, Italy
03/2014 Frontline Club – London, UK
03/2014 Tricycle Theaters – London, UK
03/2014 FIGRA (France Premier) WINNER of Two Grand Jury Awards: Special Mention
International Competition & Youth Audience International Competition Jury Prize –
Touquet, France
03/2014 Human Rights Watch Film Festival London (UK Premiere) – London, UK
11/2013 IDFA (World Premiere) – Amsterdam, Netherlands
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
DIRECTOR -
Rachel Beth Anderson
Rachel Beth Anderson, a Sundance award wining cinematographer, has filmed
around the world in several conflict zones including Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt,
Turkey, Liberia and South Sudan, for CNN “Hero’s”, PBS Frontline, Human Rights
Watch, and independent feature documentaries First To Fall and E-TEAM.
Originally from North Dakota, Rachel graduated from the University of NebraskaLincoln Journalism school, where she filmed and co-produced, a Robert F. Kennedy
Journalism Award winning doc Breaking Down Barriers. Prior to graduating she
participated in a Fulbright sponsored Journalism program based in Cairo, Egypt. This
led Rachel to official relocate to Cairo in 2010 for her work as a cinematographer
and journalist. During the 2011 Egyptian revolution Rachel worked as a
videographer and field producer for PBS Frontline documentaries: Gigi’s Revolution,
and The Brothers. In 2013, she returned to shoot on the PBS Frontline follow-up
film, Egypt in Crisis. Her directorial debut film, First To Fall, has received
international acclaim and screened over 20 times in 9 countries worldwide. Her
cinematography on the feature documentary E-TEAM received a (2014) SUNDANCE
Excellence in Cinematography jury award. Rachel is currently based in Brooklyn, NY.
CO-DIRECTOR – Tim Grucza
Tim Grucza is an Emmy award winning cinematographer and filmmaker. As a
director/DP he has garnered several prizes including a Peabody in 2012 for
work with CNN and the 2006 Banff International Television award for his first
feature length documentary White Platoon. For the past 8 years he has shot
and field produced dozens of films for PBS’ investigate documentary program
Frontline. He specializes in conflict reporting, having covered the wars in
Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan through to the Egyptian and Libyan revolutions.
After nine years based in Paris, France he moved to New York in 2010.
EDITOR – Christina Burchard
Christina Burchard is a producer/writer/editor for documentary, television,
short film,commercial and music video, including the Emmy award winning
PBS documentary Hecho A Mano: Artists in Exile. She has worked on stories
that explore impostors and fraudsters, privacy and surveillance, the post 9/11
world arena, revolution, and the expanse of an artist’s creative spirit. Other
notable credits include Unraveled, a feature documentary about mega-
fraudster Marc Dreier; feature documentary The Woman Who Wasn’t There;
and Visionaries: Inside the Creative Mind for OWN. She splits her time
between New York and Los Angeles.
EDITOR – Kate Taverna
Kate Taverna, a New York City native, has been editing and directing films for
over three decades. Academy award nominated for previous work, Taverna is
best known for Pray the Devil Back to Hell (Tribeca Festival Best
Documentary Feature award winner), the highly acclaimed short Killing in the
Name, the dramatic historical film Lodz Ghetto, and most recently in a
producing partnership with Allen Adelson, In Bed with Ulysses.
EDITOR – Luis Alvarez y Alvarez Luis Alvarez y Alvarez, film editor, was born in Mexico City and lives in New
York City. Since 2010 he has been editing the artist Matthew Barney’s
ANCIENT EVENINGS film series to be released in 2014. His previous feature
film editing credits include Leonardo DiCaprio’s environmental documentary
THE 11th HOUR (2007), Matthew Barney’s DRAWING RESTRAINT 9 (2005)
and Larry Charles’ MASKED AND ANONYMOUS (2003). Recently he has
completed a number of documentaries for National Geographic Television
including TITANIC THE FINAL WORD WITH JAMES CAMERON. Mr. Alvarez y
Alvarez apprenticed as an assistant editor working on the Pixar Animation
Studios feature films: TOY STORY 2, MONSTERS INC and FINDING NEMO.
PRODUCER – Tony Gerber
Tony Gerber’s films include Full Battle Rattle (SXSW '08 Special Jury Prize)
about life inside the US Army’s Iraq simulation in the California desert. He is
a two-time Emmy recipient and has written and directed over a dozen
documentaries for National Geographic, shot in some of the most remote
regions of the world. He recently produced Rachel Beth Anderson’s First to
Fall (Gucci/TriBeCa recipient, IDFA 2013) about the broken promise of the
revolution in Libya. In addition to independent works, he has directed a
number of special projects including THE FINAL WORD with James Cameron
and short films for the PBS TEDTalks with John Legend. Gerber has
collaborated with visual artists Allora and Calzadilla, Ann Sofi Siden and
Matthew Barney. In 2005 he founded Market Road Films, a NY-based
production company with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage.
Currently in development is a trans-media project about how poverty is
changing the American narrative, and a documentary based on Johnny
Dwyer’s forthcoming American Warlord (Knopf 2014) about Charles Taylor’s
American-born son. The Notorious Mr. Bout is Gerber’s 3rd film to premiere
at Sundance.
EXEC-PRODUCER – Mike Lerner
Oscar-Nominated, Mike Lerner has been making films since 1988 including
Afghan Star, Hell and Back Again, Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer, Smash & Grab The Story of the Pink Panthers, The Square, The Do Gooders, A Whole Lott
More, First To Fall.
He has won a number of industry awards including; Academy Award
Nomination for Best Documentary Feature 2012, 6 Sundance Awards (Grand
Jury, Special Jury, Best Director, Audience, Cinematography) , EMMY Award for
Best Documentary, 2 Grierson Awards for Best Documentary, Prix Italia, 2
Royal Television Society Award Nominations and 2 IDA Award Nominations,
Cinema Eye Award, Independent Spirit Award Nomination, Gotham
Independent Film Award Nomination, BIFA Nomination, The Alfred Dupont
Award, Winner Best Documentary Moscow Film Festival, Winner BIFA 2013
Best Documentary.
EXEC-PRODUCER – Amr Ben Halim
Amr Ben Halim is a business leader, entrepreneur, and civil society activist
with a track record in the industrial, political and philanthropic fields. He is
Founder and Chairman of the Board of the Forum for Democratic Libya (FDL),
an organization established during the 2011 revolution in Libya to promote
democracy, citizen engagement, and accountability. Amr oversees and
provides support to the work of FDL that covers all corners of Libya. Amr is
also a board member of AFAC, the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture. AFAC is an
independent Arab initiative that funds individuals and organizations in the
fields of cinema, performing arts, literature, music and visual arts, while
facilitating cultural exchange and cooperation across the Arab world and
globally. Through a philanthropic trust Amr supports projects to bring art and
drama therapy to patients with mental illnesses in Lebanon and the UK. He is
also co-founder of the first women-led micro-lending programs in the
Palestinian refugee camps of south Lebanon. He continues to be an active
member and supporter of various philanthropic and civil society projects in
the Arab world. His work has been featured in leading regional and
international business and news forums including The National, Sky News,
Libya Herald, BBC News, Gulf News, PR Newswire, Arabian Oil and Gas. Amr
holds a BSc in Civil Engineering from the University of Wales and an MS and
MBA from Stanford University. He is currently on the Advisory Board of
Visualizing Impact, a visual media organisation focusing on social justice
issues in the Middle East.
EXEC-PRODUCER – Brandon Litman
Brandon Litman Co-founded One Day on Earth, a worldwide community that
produces global filmmaking collaborations. He is responsible for project
development, including global partnerships and project financing. In 2010,
Brandon forged an unprecedented partnership with the United Nations,
giving One Day on Earth global access through diplomatic relationships. In
2012, he produced the world's most global film premiere, with a record
setting 160 countries participating. Brandon founded a post-production
company called Alien Kung Fu in 2006, where he still serves as an Executive
Producer. Over the past 7 years, Brandon has executive produced on-air
marketing efforts for various television networks, including Discovery, FX
Networks, Science Channel, and HBO.
CO-PRODUCER – Lynn Nottage Lynn Nottage is a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright and a screenwriter. Her
plays have been produced widely in the United States and throughout the
world. They include, By The Way, Meet Vera Stark (Lily Award, Drama Desk
Nomination), Ruined (Pulitzer Prize, OBIE, Lucille Lortel, New York Drama
Critics’ Circle, Audelco, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Award), Intimate
Apparel (American Theatre Critics and New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards
for Best Play), Fabulation, or The Re-Education of Undine (OBIE Award), Crumbs
from the Table of Joy, Las Meninas, Mud, River,
Stone, Por’knockers and POOF!. She is currently developing a new play and
multimedia performance installation based on two years of research and
interviews conducted in Reading, PA. (w/ Oregon Shakespeare, Arena Stage &
Labyrinth Theatre Company). In addition, she is working with composer Ricky
Ian Gordon on adapting her play Intimate Apparel into an opera
(commissioned by The Met/LCT).
She is the co-founder of the production company, Market Road Films, whose
most recent projects include The Notorious Mr. Bout directed by Tony Gerber
and Maxim Pozdorovkin (Premiere/Sundance 2014), First to Fall directed by
Rachel Beth Anderson (Premiere/ IDFA, 2013) and Remote
Control (Premiere/Busan 2013- New Currents Award) Over the years, she has
developed original projects for HBO, Showtime, Sidney Kimmel
Entertainment,This is That and Harpo. Nottage is a board member for Theatre
Communications Group, BRIC Arts Media Bklyn, Donor Direct Action, Second
Stage, The New Black Fest, and the Dramatists Guild. She recently completed
a three-year term as an Artist Trustee on the Board of the Sundance Institute.
COMPOSER– Mark degli Antoni Mark degli Antoni is a film composer / performer living in Los Angeles and
NYC. He studied with Milton Babbitt and David Loeb, earning a BM & MM in
Composition from the Mannes College of Music in Manhattan.
Mark co-founded the internationally acclaimed Warner Bros band Soul
Coughing. He has performed and recorded with David Byrne, Laurie
Anderson, John Zorn, Low, Redman, among others. While at the Harmonic
Ranch in NYC, he created sound works for Richard Prince, Julia Scher,
Christian Marclay, and Nam Joon Pike.
Influenced by artists from Schubert, to John Cage and Pedro
Almodovar, Mark’s approach to music and film scoring is unique. He often
fuses his studied appreciation of traditional forms with the sounds around us
– from pop songs to found fx – crafting notably distinct music.
He has scored films for an eclectic selection of award-winning directors
including Werner Herzog, Wallace Shawn, Finn Taylor, William Wegman, Lily
Baldwin, Jed Rothstein and most recently Roger Ross Williams.