Algren
Biography
•
1h 25m
Directed by Michael Caplan • Documentary • 2021 • 85 minutes
The new feature documentary ALGREN is a journey through the gritty world, brilliant mind, and noble heart of Nelson Algren. Exploding onto the national scene in 1950 after winning the first-ever National Book Award for The Man with the Golden Arm, Algren defined post-war American urban fiction with his depictions of working class Chicago.
Hemingway declared him second only to Faulkner; Vonnegut dubbed him a literary groundbreaker. Hollywood soon came calling, immortalizing his breakout novel with none other than Frank Sinatra in the lead role. Algren even won a notorious place in both the heart and work of France’s premiere feminist, Simone de Beauvoir.
Including never-before-seen archival footage, newly uncovered audio recordings and his own rarely seen, personal photo collages, ALGREN charts the rise and fall of a man whose transgressions, compassion and thirst for justice pushed him to dedicate his life and career to giving a voice to the voiceless. Through interviews with Algren’s friends, literary experts and artists – including William Friedkin, Russell Banks, Philip Kaufman, Billy Corgan and John Sayles – the film is an intimate, witty and even antagonistic portrait of a tireless champion of America’s most marginalized.
Up Next in Biography
-
Westwood: Punk. Icon. Activist.
Directed by Lorna Tucker • Documentary • With Vivienne Westwood • 2018 • 79 minutes
An intimate and inspiring portrait of a true icon: Dame Vivienne Westwood. Punk Rock’s Grande Dame and one of the most culturally influential provocateurs in recent history.
After defining the 1970s punk look wi...
-
Lumumba
Directed by Raoul Peck • Drama • With Eriq Ebouaney • 2001 • 115 minutes
Made in the tradition of such true-life political thrillers as Malcolm X and JFK, Raoul Peck's award-winning Lumumba is a gripping epic that dramatizes for the first time the rise and fall of legendary African leader Patric...
-
One Bright Shining Moment
Directed by Stephen Vittoria • Documentary • 2005 • 124 minutes
When presidential candidate George McGovern took on incumbent Richard Nixon in 1972, no one really expected him to win – and he didn’t. But in his bold, grassroots, seat-of-the-pants campaign, which energized young and progressive A...
