Audience of One (film)
Encyclopedia
Audience of One is an award-winning 2007 documentary
directed by Michael Jacobs that was premiered on 9 March 2007 at the South by Southwest Film Festival
in Austin, Texas
.
, Italy
, for initial shooting that turns out to be marred with difficulties. After returning home, Gazowsky manages to arrange a lease of the Treasure Island film studio, but as their promised financing from German investors never materializes, they get evicted - and eventually sued - by the city of San Francisco for not paying their rent. The final part of the film shows Gazowsky, still determined to make his film, presenting what appears to be a global domination plan to members of his church.
likened Gazowsky's struggle to that of other infamous cinematic iconoclasts, stating that "as he [Gazowsky] seems to swell past Felliniesque portliness to Wellesian girth, he makes a comical and complex example of the conflict of religious devotion."
Critic Ronnie Scheib of Variety praised the documentary's intimacy, the way that Jacobs "sticks close to his subjects, eschewing disdainful distance from their cinematic pipe dreams" and the Village Voices J. Hoberman noted that the film was a "festival favorite throughout the US".
The film's humor has been compared to film-making-gone-awry classics such as Lost in La Mancha
and American Movie
, while others have cited comparisons with the searching investigations of obsession in the films of Werner Herzog
as well as Errol Morris
' idiosyncratic character studies. V.A. Musetto of the New York Post summed the film up by simply stating that "Somewhere above us, God is Watching 'Audience of One' and chuckling. Mere mortals will be doing likewise."
- Michael Tully, Hammer To Nail
"Manages, as the best docs will, to tell a resonant, character-driven story that makes us think, all the while laughing and cringing."
- Anne Lewis, The Austin Chronicle
"A comical and complex example of the conflict of religious devotion."
- Wesley Morris, The Boston Globe
"Fascinating documentary that could catch on theatrically."
- Ronnie Scheib, Variety
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
directed by Michael Jacobs that was premiered on 9 March 2007 at the South by Southwest Film Festival
South by Southwest
South by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...
in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
.
Overview
The film follows the story of a San Francisco Pentecostal minister Richard Gazowsky on his quest to shoot a groundbreaking fantasy film called Gravity: The Shadow of Joseph (described by him as "Star Wars meets The Ten Commandments"). The film follows him and members of his church as they go through pre-production and fly to AlberobelloAlberobello
Alberobello is a small town and comune in the province of Bari, in Puglia, Italy. It has about 11,000 inhabitants and is famous for its unique trulli constructions. The Trulli of Alberobello are part of the UNESCO World Heritage sites list since 1996....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, for initial shooting that turns out to be marred with difficulties. After returning home, Gazowsky manages to arrange a lease of the Treasure Island film studio, but as their promised financing from German investors never materializes, they get evicted - and eventually sued - by the city of San Francisco for not paying their rent. The final part of the film shows Gazowsky, still determined to make his film, presenting what appears to be a global domination plan to members of his church.
Awards
- 2007 South by Southwest Film FestivalSouth by SouthwestSouth by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...
- Special Jury Award - 2007 Silverdocs Film FestivalSilverdocsAFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival is an American international film festival created by the American Film Institute and Discovery Channel. It is held every year in Silver Spring, Maryland near Washington, D.C.. Started in 2003, the festival is held for eight days in June at...
- Beyond Belief Award - 2007 San Francisco DocFest - Audience Award
- 2007 BendBend, OregonBend is a city in and the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, United States, and the principal city of the Bend, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bend is Central Oregon's largest city, and, despite its modest size, is the de facto metropolis of the region, owing to the low population...
Film Festival - Special Jury Prize for Documentary - 2008 ZagrebDox Film FestivalZagrebDoxZagrebDox is an international documentary film festival established in 2005 and held annually in Zagreb, Croatia.It is the biggest festival of its kind in South East Europe and its goals are to showcase documentary films from the region as well as to provide a meeting place for authors from all...
- International Critics' Jury Award - 2008 ZagrebDoX Film FestivalZagrebDoxZagrebDox is an international documentary film festival established in 2005 and held annually in Zagreb, Croatia.It is the biggest festival of its kind in South East Europe and its goals are to showcase documentary films from the region as well as to provide a meeting place for authors from all...
- Mali pečat for Best Young Director
Film festivals
- Big Sky Documentary Film FestivalBig Sky Documentary Film FestivalBig Sky Documentary Film Festival is an annual non-fiction film festival held in Missoula, Montana each February. The event showcases documentary films from around the world. The festival first began in 2003 as a seven day event...
2008 (Missoula, United States) - Salem Film Festival 2008 (Mass., USA)
- True/False Film FestivalTrue/False Film FestivalThe True/False Film Festival is an annual documentary film festival that takes place in Columbia, Missouri. The festival usually happens on a weekend toward the end of February or the beginning of March, with films being shown from Thursday night to Sunday night...
2008 (Columbia, United States) - Camden International Film FestivalCamden International Film FestivalThe Camden International Film Festival is an annual film festival based in Camden, Maine, in the United States. Created in 2004 by Benjamin Fowlie to support and generate interest in independent documentary films, the festival is a grass-roots, community-based organization.The festival has featured...
2007 (Camden, United States) - Denver International Film Festival 2007 (Denver, United States)
- Independent Film Festival of BostonIndependent Film Festival of BostonThe Independent Film Festival of Boston is a not for profit film festival in Boston, Massachusetts.- History :The Independent Film Festival of Boston was created in 2003 by the non-profit organization the Independent Film Society of Boston. The festival takes place each April in the Boston area's...
2007 (Boston, United States) - Leeds International Film FestivalLeeds International Film FestivalThe Leeds International Film Festival is the largest film festival in England outside London. Held in November at various venues throughout Leeds, West Yorkshire it shows over 200 films from around the world, commercial and independent....
2007 (Leeds, United Kingdom) - New Directors/New Films 2007 (New York City, United States)
- New Zealand International Film Festival 2007 (New Zealand)
- Newport International Film FestivalNewport International Film FestivalNewport International Film Festival was an annual film festival in Newport, Rhode Island, established in 1998 .The Newport Film Festival was generally held the first week in June and featured various international films at several local cinemas...
2007 (Newport, United States) - Toronto After Dark Film FestivalToronto After Dark Film FestivalToronto After Dark Film Festival is a showcase of horror, sci-fi, action and cult cinema held annually in Toronto, Canada at the Bloor Cinema. The festival premieres a diverse selection of feature-length and short-films from around the world including new works from Asia, Europe and North...
2007 (Toronto, Canada)
Critical reception
James Rocchi of Cinematical called the film "a fascinating documentary -- unblinking but not inhuman, sympathetic but never afraid to ask questions", and described Richard Gazowsky, the film's blustery yet relatable protagonist, as "a natural showman", stating that while "It's easy to see a sprinkling of Ed Wood-style mania in Gazowsky...he's also in service of a higher idea." In the Austin American-Statesman, Chris Garcia agreed, describing Gazowsky as "a sanguine if irresponsible Quixote who enlists our goodwill" while also lauding director Michael Jacobs' treatment of his subject as "ceaselessly engaging, scrupulously nonjudgmental". The Boston Globes Wesley MorrisWesley Morris
Wesley Morris is a film critic at The Boston Globe where he reviews films alongside Ty Burr. Morris and Burr also make regular appearances on NECN to discuss the latest films and do the weekly Take Two film review video series on Boston.com...
likened Gazowsky's struggle to that of other infamous cinematic iconoclasts, stating that "as he [Gazowsky] seems to swell past Felliniesque portliness to Wellesian girth, he makes a comical and complex example of the conflict of religious devotion."
Critic Ronnie Scheib of Variety praised the documentary's intimacy, the way that Jacobs "sticks close to his subjects, eschewing disdainful distance from their cinematic pipe dreams" and the Village Voices J. Hoberman noted that the film was a "festival favorite throughout the US".
The film's humor has been compared to film-making-gone-awry classics such as Lost in La Mancha
Lost in La Mancha
Lost in La Mancha is a documentary film narrated by Jeff Bridges about Terry Gilliam's failed first attempt to make The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, a film adaptation of the novel Don Quixote...
and American Movie
American Movie
American Movie: The Making of Northwestern is a 1999 documentary directed by Chris Smith. The film chronicles the real 1996-1997 making of Coven, an independent horror film directed by an independent filmmaker named Mark Borchardt...
, while others have cited comparisons with the searching investigations of obsession in the films of Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog Stipetić , known as Werner Herzog, is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.He is often considered as one of the greatest figures of the New German Cinema, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner...
as well as Errol Morris
Errol Morris
Errol Mark Morris is an American director. In 2003, The Guardian put him seventh in its list of the world's 40 best directors. Also in 2003, his film The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.-Early life and...
' idiosyncratic character studies. V.A. Musetto of the New York Post summed the film up by simply stating that "Somewhere above us, God is Watching 'Audience of One' and chuckling. Mere mortals will be doing likewise."
Reviews
"What makes Audience of One so exceptional is how it can be interpreted in so many different ways. It is a haunting commentary on religious delusion, it is a piercing metaphor for the Bush/Cheney administrations stubbornness, it is a hilarious satire of filmmaking, yet perhaps most importantly, and strangely, it is a testament to faith and determination in the face of the most insurmountable odds."- Michael Tully, Hammer To Nail
"Manages, as the best docs will, to tell a resonant, character-driven story that makes us think, all the while laughing and cringing."
- Anne Lewis, The Austin Chronicle
"A comical and complex example of the conflict of religious devotion."
- Wesley Morris, The Boston Globe
"Fascinating documentary that could catch on theatrically."
- Ronnie Scheib, Variety
External links
- Official website
- Indiepix website
- Audience of One at MySpaceMySpaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
- Daily Variety review
- Revolve Productions website
- SF Weekly article on Gazowsky
- WYSIWYG (Gazowsky's production company) official blog