“Magazines don’t change the world, but they shape a certain kind of climate of ideas.” The 50 Year Argument, the newest work by directors Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi, examines the history of The New York Review of Books as a key influence on American life and culture throughout the past five decades, or as Variety’s Scott Foundas states, “an American cultural Goliath little affected by the tectonic shifts that have reduced so much print media to rubble.”
Scorsese, whose documentaries include George Harrison: Living in the Material World, Public Speaking, Shine a Light, and No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, has worked with editor David Tedeschi on all the mentioned titles. The 50 Year Argument marks the first instance of the two working as co-directors on a project. In addition to his collaborations with Scorsese, Tedeschi has served as editor on the television series The Shield, the feature music bio-drama El Cantante, among other narrative films, documentaries, and television series.
The doc made its debut at the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival, where it screened as a work in progress. It went on to premiere in its final form at the 2014 Sheffield/Doc Fest held in June and screened at the recent Telluride Film Festival. It will also make an appearance at the Toronto International Film Festival prior to its New York Film Festival screenings on September 28 and 29.
“It is impossible to dislike a documentary with such rich subject matter and such a stellar cast of cultural heavyweights,” said The Hollywood Reporter’s Stephen Dalton of the film that features appearances by Gore Vidal, James Baldwin, Susan Sontag, Norman Mailer, among many others.
Take a look at the trailer below and catch The 50 Year Argument at the 52nd NYFF:
NYFF official description:
The New York Review of Books, a renowned NY literary institution that’s played a substantial role in American cultural and political life, gets the royal treatment in this celebration of a half-century of critical engagement and dissent. Interweaving the history and evolution of the publication, founded by Robert B. Silvers and Barbara Epstein (in reaction to what they considered the impoverished state of book reviewing in The New York Times!), with an examination of its amazing track record of wrestling with the urgent issues and inconvenient truths of the day, from Vietnam to Iraq, this look at the magazine and the journalistic values it enshrines is thoughtful, lively, and moving. It’s also a juicy compilation of greatest hits and historical bull’s-eyes, with guest appearances by James Baldwin, Gore Vidal, Susan Sontag, Norman Mailer, Joan Didion, and a host of other literary and political luminaries. An HBO Documentary Film.
