The Ground Truth - Documentary

Focus Features and AOL Partner to Create Powerful Web Outreach


Focus Features

Aug 08, 2006





NEW YORK, August 8, 2006 – As part of a multi-platform distribution and marketing effort for director/producer Patricia Foulkrod’s new documentary feature film The Ground Truth, Focus Features has entered into a partnership with AOL that will extend the film and its message to online audiences. The outreach leverages AOL’s programming expertise and community platforms in a unique extension of the Focus release through AIM Pages, AOL’s new social networking service. Focus CEO James Schamus made the announcement today.
As part of this initiative, AOL has created a customized AIM® Pages profile for The Ground Truth. The film’s featured American soldiers have blogs and exclusive on-demand video that include personal profiles, war testimonials and “vlogs” (video diary entries) uploaded during the film’s national promotional tour. The Ground Truth AIM Page expands the voices of these veterans through user-generated video, photos, blogs, and comments, providing a forum for debate and self-_expression. Comprehensive information about veterans services organizations and support groups are also available on the film’s AIM Pages profile.
The film (to which Focus acquired worldwide rights this past spring) will be released theatrically to Landmark Theatres cinemas in at least a half-dozen cities (including New York and Los Angeles), on Friday, September 15th for a minimum of one week. Universal Studios Home Entertainment will then issue a special edition DVD on Tuesday, September 26th.
Before, during, and after the initial theatrical release, Focus will aggressively promote the film and the AOL partnership by way of a full complement of marketing and field publicity and promotional efforts. A host of special screenings are planned; one was already held for Senators and Congresspeople in Washington, D.C. on July 26th.
Marking the four-year anniversary of the U.S. presence in Iraq, nationwide community screenings of The Ground Truth will be held in local churches, libraries, hospitals, recreational centers, and living rooms on Wednesday, October 11th. Discussion guides and resource guides will be distributed.
Mr. Schamus said, “We want as many people as possible to be able to see and hear The Ground Truth. AOL shares our commitment – and our priority – to get these American soldiers’ faces and voices out there. We are stepping outside the industry box for the release pattern on this movie, and with AOL’s help Patricia’s film will now reach the public it deserves.”
Jim Bankoff, Executive Vice President of Programming, Community and Messaging for AOL, added, “AOL is proud to partner with Focus Features to help engage audiences more deeply in The Ground Truth. There are large communities of people that are eager to share thoughts and feelings about these soldiers and their stories, and we look forward to enabling their participation.”
The subjects of The Ground Truth are patriotic young Americans – ordinary men and women who heeded the call for military service in Iraq – as they experience recruitment and training, combat, homecoming, and the struggle to reintegrate with families and communities. The terrible conflict in Iraq, depicted with ferocious honesty in the film, is a prelude for the even more challenging battles fought by the soldiers returning home – with personal demons, an uncomprehending public, and an indifferent government. As these battles take shape, each soldier becomes a new kind of hero, bearing witness and giving support to other veterans, and learning to fearlessly wield the most powerful weapon of all – the truth.
The Ground Truth stunned audiences at the 2006 Sundance and Nantucket Film Festivals. Hailed as “powerful” (David Ansen, newsweek.com) and “quietly unflinching” (Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times), “the message of Ground Truth cannot be dismissed.” (John Anderson, Variety) Ms. Foulkrod produced and directed the film, which is a Ground Truth production in association with Radioaktivefilm and Plum Pictures.
Focus Features is a motion picture production, financing, and worldwide distribution company committed to bringing moviegoers the most original stories from the world’s most innovative filmmakers.
In addition to The Ground Truth, current and upcoming Focus Features releases include Woody Allen’s Scoop, starring Allen, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, and Ian McShane; Allen Coulter’s Hollywoodland, starring Adrien Brody, Diane Lane, Ben Affleck, and Bob Hoskins; Phillip Noyce’s Catch a Fire, starring Tim Robbins, Derek Luke, and Bonnie Henna; Kasi Lemmons’ Talk to Me, starring Don Cheadle and Chiwetel Ejiofor; Shane Acker’s animated fantasy epic 9, produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov and Jim Lemley & Dana Ginsburg; Henry Selick’s stop-motion animated feature Coraline, starring Dakota Fanning and Teri Hatcher; Joe Wright’s Atonement, starring Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, and Romola Garai; David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises, starring Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts; and Lust, Caution, the new film from Ang Lee, the Academy Award-winning director of Focus’ worldwide success Brokeback Mountain.
Focus Features and Universal Studios Home Entertainment are part of NBC Universal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Formed in May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, NBC Universal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. NBC Universal is 80% owned by General Electric and 20% owned by Vivendi.
AOL’s AIM® Pages service, presently in public beta at Aim Pages, is an innovative social networking service that lets people connect with others to share content and experiences in new and exciting ways. Building on AOL’s popular AIM® service and iconic Buddy List® feature, the AIM Pages service lets users build personalized Web profiles for creative self-_expression and communication with friends around the world. Based on an open platform to encourage creativity and interaction, the AIM Pages service is an easy-to-use community platform that makes it simple to share hobbies, blog entries, photos and more.
AOL and its subsidiaries operate a leading network of Web brands and the largest Internet access subscription service in the United States. Web brands include the AOL.com® website, AIM®, MapQuest® and Netscape®. AOL offers a range of digital services in the areas of education, safety and security, communications, and music. The company also has operations in Europe and Canada. AOL LLC is a majority-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., and is based in Dulles, Virginia.
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Contact: Adriene Bowles FOCUS FEATURES/818-777-7499
Lori Dolginoff AOL CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS/212-652-6363
Donna Dickman; V.J. Carbone FOCUS FEATURES/212-539-4053; 212-539-4055
Bethan Dixon FOCUS FEATURES INTERNATIONAL/44-207-307-1389