Level 22 and Firefly: Theater & Films today announced that its feature documentary, Make Believe, will have a sneak peak screening hosted by Lance Burton at the World Magic Seminar in Las Vegas on February 28 and will then go on to a nationwide theatrical release beginning in May. Winner of the prize for Best Documentary at the Los Angeles Film Festival and the Audience Award at the Austin Film Festival, the film has been acquired for television by Showtime Networks Inc. and will premiere on April 12.
A coming of age journey set in the quirky subculture of magic, Make Believe follows six of the world’s best young magicians as they pursue the title of Teen World Champion and lead us on their personal journeys of transformation through magic. The film, executive produced by Ed Cunningham and Seth Gordon and produced by Firefly principal, Steven Klein, marks the directorial debut of J Clay Tweel, who also acted as editor and a cinematographer on the project. Tweel has worked with Make Believe team members on projects including short films, The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, and Four Christmases, and the producers’ were excited by his keen interest in carving an emotional narrative through the competition doc structure, which is what made the film a coming of age tale from its first days of shooting. Tweel’s wide-ranging other credits include producing, motion graphics, and music composition. Firefly’s Steven Klein was a former teen magician and remains a member of The Magic Castle.
Beginning in May, Make Believe will open in theaters nationally, including runs in New York and Los Angeles. Prior to the theatrical openings, the film will have a special sneak preview screening at Lance Burton’s World Magic Seminar in Las Vegas on February 28th. The DVD, a special collectors’ edition including magic performances and tutorials not seen in the film along with other bonus material, will be available for pre-order February 28 and will be released in the summer of 2011. Exhibition, marketing, and ancillary distribution are being overseen by Liz Ogilvie and Paola Freccero of CrowdStarter, a New York-based marketing and distribution services company. Showtime Networks Inc. will air the film beginning April 12, 2011. The Showtime deal was negotiated by Mark Ankner of WME Global, with distribution legal services provided by Marc Simon of Cowan DeBaets Abrahams & Sheppard LLP, on behalf of Level 22 and Firefly: Theater & Films, and by Helen Huang on behalf of Showtime Networks Inc.
Firefly has been telling stories for 15 years. Firefly theater projects have garnered over two-dozen awards for shows in Boston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Belfast, Off-West End London, and Off-Broadway, with the most recent productions including Geraldine Hughes’ Belfast Blues off-Broadway at the Barrow Street Theatre in 2010; the 2008 award-winning LA premiere of Itamar Moses’ The Four of Us; and the current world premiere of Unscreened running in LA through March 7. When digital filmmaking was newly possible, and wanting to make films with the cross-disciplinary collaboration typical to theater, Firefly’s founder, actor and producer Steven Klein, and Oscar-winning producer Bruce Cohen co-founded a film collective, making 35 digital shorts from 2001 – 2005. With an ethos and projects growing from these, and in connection with Firefly’s theater efforts, the company expanded to become Firefly: Theater & Films. It has since had award-winning films at dozens of festivals internationally.
After producing 2005’s Sundance documentary, New York Doll, Seth Gordon and Ed Cunningham started Level 22 and quickly rolled into production on The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, with Seth directing and Ed producing. Along with Make Believe, Seth and Ed are also executive producing a high school football documentary in the late stages of post-production, and Level 22 currently has several non-fiction and scripted projects in development.