Documentaries

Final post-production for Justice for MLK: The Hunt for James Earl Ray, a two-hour documentary that premiered recently on the American Heroes Channel, was completed at Pixel Underground, a Sim Group company. The facility handled online, final color grading and deliverables. It also provided graphics services, creating the main title as well as dozens of artfully animated elements that appear throughout the show. Produced by Cream Productions in association with Absinthe Film Entertainment, Justice for MLK centers on the final days of Martin Luther King’s life and the tense, 65-day manhunt that led to the capture of his killer. Directed by Michael DeCarlo, the documentary is composed of archival footage, interviews with people familiar with King, Ray and the police investigation, and historical reenactments.

Wildlife cinematographer Danny Schmidt plunged into Colombia’s remote Magdalena River Valley earlier this year to document the plight of the critically endangered brown spider monkey in a project for National Geographic. Schmidt and camera operator Federico Pardo had just eight days to locate the rare albino spider monkeys (their albinism is a genetic abnormality cause by habitat degradation), record their story and capture the fragile environment in which they live.

Lion Ark, the documentary about the rescue of 25 lions from circuses in Bolivia and their journey to freedom, has been voted the Audience Award out of all features at Yes Film Festival in Columbus, Indiana. The Yes Film Festival Audience Award comes with a $500 prize, which has immediately been donated towards helping 33 lions rescued from circuses in Peru and Colombia reach a new life in South Africa before Christmas.

The Hadza: Last of The First chronicles the lives of the Hadzabe tribe of Tanzania, possibly the last true hunter-gatherer group on the planet. The film, to be released digitally by Journeyman Pictures starting today, is directed and produced by Bill Benenson. The Hadza: Last of the First was shown at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and is produced in association with The Nature Conservancy, one of the most highly regarded non-profits in the world.