“Amazing Grace”In theaters, the film arrived 47 years after Aretha Franklin’s concert film was shot in South L.A. churches. The path to the screen was strewn with litigation — including an aborted premiere at the Telluride Film Festival that was halted by an injunction.
The film was nominated Critics give rave reviews and was one of the year’s top grossing documentaries. The litigation continues three years later.
Produce Alan Elliott will be in attendance Wednesday Filled suit in New York, accusing indie distributor Neon of botching the film’s release and awards campaign.
Elliott claims that Neon pre-announced it had purchased the film, scaring away potential competitors, and then failed in its obligations after the deal was completed. Neon is accused of not properly marketing the film, especially in African American communities.
“Neon kept the Picture out of theaters and away from the communities where its release would be most impactful, and instead licensed the Picture to streamers such as Hulu,”According to the lawsuit. Neon is also accused of participating in a lawsuit. “Hollywood accounting”And of intentionally “kneecapping” the film’s success in order to avoid paying out performance bonuses.
Neon denied these allegations in a statement.
“We are extremely proud of the campaign and release we’ve forged for ‘Amazing Grace,’”According to the distributor. “Our goal was and remains to honor the iconic, ‘Queen of Soul’ Aretha Franklin by continuing to make this film as widely available as possible for all audiences to enjoy her raw, timeless talent. At this time we will refrain from making any comment on this meritless and baseless claim, and look forward to defending our quality of work and reputation.”
Sydney Pollack shot the film at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church, in 1972. The film was abandoned after decades of technical problems in synchronizing the sound to the image. Elliott, who is described in the suit by a “smart guy”, was described as being “a…” “longtime admirer” of Franklin’s, ultimately rescued the footage, acquired the rights and oversaw the completion of the film. After Franklin’s death, legal disputes with Franklin and her family were not resolved.
Elliott announced that he would be premiering the film at the DOC NYC festival. He also planned to do a week-long Oscar-qualifying run in New York and Los Angeles before a general release in spring 2019. At the time, he said he’d been told by agents and publicists that it might be better to wait a year, to give a distributor the chance to do a multimillion dollar awards campaign.
But he said he thought the film could contend in the documentary category — and for best picture — on just word of mouth.
The film was not nominated for best documentary — “Free Solo” won that year — nor was it nominated for best picture. It was nominated at many film festivals and received an NAACP Image Award.
Elliott accuses Neon in the lawsuit of having “abandoned any effort to promote the Picture’s awards run, despite the fact that the Picture was widely considered an Oscar contender, and heavy favorite, in its category.”Neon was also accused of failing to submit the film for consideration as an award contender.
Neon was then released in the next year. “Honeyland,”This film was nominated to the Academy Award for best documentary or best international feature. “Parasite,”It won best picture, as well as three other Oscars. The Oscar contenders were released by Neon in a more recent release “Flee”And “The Worst Person in the World.”The company is looking into a sale.