Director and DP Don Argott is one of three co-founders of 9.14 Pictures, the production company behind such recent documentaries as Rock School, The Art of the Steal and Last Days Here. Their latest film, Believer, is a profile of Imagine Dragons’ vocalist Dan Reynolds. The film concerns Reynolds’ faith as he wrestles with homophobia within the Mormon church. Argott hired DP Anton Floquet to shoot the film, which covers a tumultuous year in Reynolds’ life. Floquet spoke with Filmmaker ahead of the film’s premiere at Sundance about how he got the job, the importance of a small field crew and the film’s […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 26, 2018Don Argott’s interests are eclectic, to say the least. Just in the past five years the Philly-based documentarian has followed the downward spiraling of rock stars, explored a nuclear-reactor community and, most recently, launched a Kickstarter campaign for his latest project Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time. The in-production doc is co-directed by Curb Your Enthusiasm co-creator Bob Weide and is about his decades-long attempt to make his own film about the iconic author, who in the process became a close friend. Argott spoke with Filmmaker about meeting Weide at an overseas film festival, going the indie financing route, and how […]
by Lauren Wissot on Feb 11, 2015[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, January 23, 9:00 pm –Temple Theatre, Park City] In these days of 140 characters or less, filmmaking, and particularly documentary filmmaking, allows us the space and the time to explore a character or an issue with breadth and depth. Our goal with The Atomic States of America was to take the intimidating topic of nuclear power, and to make it accessible and personal by telling the individual stories of people living in reactor communities, working as Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspectors, and advocating on both sides of the issue. When you begin the journey of making a documentary, […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2012Screening Times: Monday March 14th, 4:30pm (Vimeo Theater), Tuesday march 15th, 2:00pm (Alamo Lamar C), Friday March 18th, 4:30pm (Vimeo Theater) After their acclaimed investigation of the fate of Alfred C. Barnes‘ multi-billion dollar art collection in The Art of the Steal, Philadelphia-based doc duo Don Argott and Demian Fenton return with Last Days Here, a profile of Bobby Liebling, lead singer of the cult metal band Pentagram, who has lived a hermetic life in his parents basement for decades. Filmmaker: When did you first hear of Bobby Liebling and when did you know you had to make a movie […]
by Brandon Harris on Mar 14, 2011