American Masters Pictures proudly presents - SAMMY DAVIS, JR: I'VE GOTTA BE ME - the new documentary from legendary award-winning filmmaker Sam Pollard that brings an intimate, in depth and candid look into the life of one of our most ground breaking and iconic performers in the world, Mr. Sammy Davis, Jr.
Premiering at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, this moving and compelling film lets viewers see the highs and lows of this extraordinary man as he reached out to accomplish his goals to entertain the world, while people and situations continued to try and hold him down. His life and his legacy has never been documented in a feature film before now. We encourage your coverage on this compelling film and prolific filmmaker Sam Pollard. Please find below more information on the film including screening dates and times.
TIFF 2017 Screening Times
September 10 - Press & Industry 12:00 PM - Scotiabank 11
September 11 - World Premiere 9:45 PM - Scotiabank 13
September 13 - Press & Industry 9:00 AM - Scotiabank 13
September 13 - Public 6:45 PM - Scotiabank 2
September 15 - Public 9:00 PM - Scotiabank 13
Director Sam Pollard will be featured on the Maverick Panel for the TIFF Doc Conference
September 12 - 3:30 PM Glenn Gould Studio
Press Days at TIFF with Director Sam Pollard
Tuesday September 12 - 10AM to 2PM
Wednesday September 13 - 10AM - 2PM
For press materials or screeners for curtain raiser and capsule reviews and to set up an interview with director Sam Pollard please contact:
Francisco Sanchez - fsanchez@tcdm-associates.com
David Magdael - dmagdael@tcdm-associates.com
For sales contact:
Submarine Entertainment
David Koh - dk@submarine.com
Josh Braun - josh@submarine.com
SAMMY DAVIS, JR.: I’VE GOTTA BE ME is the first major film documentary to examine Davis’ vast talent and his journey for identity through the shifting tides of civil rights and racial progress during 20th-century America. Sammy Davis, Jr. had the kind of career that was indisputably legendary, so vast and multi-faceted that it was dizzying in its scope and scale. And yet, his life was complex, complicated and contradictory. Davis strove to achieve the American Dream in a time of racial prejudice and shifting political territory. He was the veteran of increasingly outdated show business traditions trying to stay relevant; he frequently found himself bracketed by the bigotry of white America and the distaste of black America; he was the most public black figure to embrace Judaism, thereby yoking his identity to another persecuted minority.
Featuring new interviews with such luminaries as Billy Crystal, Norman Lear, Jerry Lewis, Whoopi Goldberg, Quincy Jones and Kim Novak, with never-before-seen photographs from Davis’ vast personal collection and excerpts from his electric performances in television, film and concert, SAMMY DAVIS, JR.: I’VE GOTTA BE ME explores the life and art of a uniquely gifted entertainer whose trajectory blazed across the major flashpoints of American society from the Depression through the 1980s.
SAMMY DAVIS, JR.: I’VE GOTTA BE MEis an American Masters Pictures production in co-production with ZDF in collaboration with ARTE, directed by Sam Pollard and produced by Sally Rosenthal and Michael Kantor. The film is edited by Steven Weschler and written by Laurence Maslon. Michael Kantor is executive producer.
SAMMY DAVIS, JR.:I 'VE GOTTA BE ME is a documentary title up for sales at TIFF. The film is being repped for sales by Submarine Entertainment.
Sammy Davis, Jr. backstage photo from the documentary SAMMY DAVIS, JR.: I’VE GOTTA BE ME. Photo Credit: The Estate of Altovise Davis
I want to live, not merely survive
And I won’t give up this dream
Of life that keeps me alive.
I’ve gotta be me, I’ve gotta be me
The dream that I see makes me what I am.
I’m Puerto Rican, Jewish, colored, and married to a white woman.
When I move into a neighborhood, people start running in four ways at the same time.
–Sammy Davis, Jr.
ABOUT SAM POLLARD
SAM POLLARD is an accomplished feature film and television video editor, and documentary producer/director whose work spans almost 30 years. His first assignment as a documentary producer came in 1989 for Henry Hampton's Blackside production Eyes On The Prize II: America at the Racial Crossroads. For one of his episodes in this series, he received an Emmy. Eight years later, he returned to Blackside as co-executive producer/producer of Hampton’s last documentary series, I'll Make Me A World: Stories of African-American Artists and Community. For the series, Pollard received a Peabody Award.
Between 1990 and 2010, Pollard edited a number of Spike Lee's films: Mo' Better Blues, Jungle Fever, Girl 6, Clockers and Bamboozled. Pollard and Lee also co-produced a number of documentary productions for the small and big screen: Spike Lee Presents Mike Tyson, a biographical sketch for HBO for which Pollard received an Emmy; Four Little Girls, a feature-length documentary about the 1963 Birmingham church bombings that was nominated for an Academy Award; and When The Levees Broke, a four-part documentary that won numerous awards, including a Peabody and three Emmy Awards. Five years later, he co-produced and supervised the edit on the follow up to Levees, If God Is Willing And Da Creek Don't Rise.Since 2012, Pollard has produced and directed Slavery By Another Name(2012),a 90-minute documentary for PBS that was in competition at the Sundance Film Festival; August Wilson: The Ground On Which I Stand (2015), a 90-minute documentary for American Masters; Two Trains Runnin’ (2016), a feature-length documentary that premiered at the Full Frame Film Festival; and The Talk: Race in America(2017) for PBS.
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Filmmaker Sam Pollard and producer Michael Kantor are available for interviews via phoner or SKYPE or email.
Pollard will also be featured on a panel at the TIFF DOCUMENTARY CONFERENCE on Tuesday September 12.
Below is the link to the new trailer for the film that will have it's world premiere this September at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Sammy Davis, Jr. takes aim in a backstage photo with his dancers in a scene from the documentary SAMMY DAVIS, JR.: I’VE GOTTA BE ME.
Photo Credit: The Estate of Altovise Davis