Zinger Key Points
- The month of October will see films on both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris hit movie theaters.
- One presidential candidate's campaign is threatening legal action over the film's release.
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The contentious presidential race between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris will spill over into cinemas with each candidate having a movie released in theaters this October — weeks before the 2024 presidential election.
Harris Documentary Announced: A new documentary short film "Kamala" tells the story of the vice president's career and personal life.
"The film is about more than Kamala's political journey — it's about her humanity. It's about the joyous warrior she is, fighting for the well-being of all people," Filmmaker Gerard Pizarro, who co-directed the film, said.
The movie will be released sometime in October. The exact date is not yet known, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
"As an underdog and new filmmaker myself, I'm honored to tell the story of another underdog — a Black and Indian woman who has broken barriers and inspired millions," Pizarro added.
The film, co-directed by Pizarro and Samir Zakir, will use animation and interviews with entertainers, family members, politicians and close friends of Harris.
The film comes from Illumin8 Entertainment and Pizarro Creative.
Bada Bing Pictures is distributing the film, with an unknown number of theaters set to play the film. CNN analyst Bakari Sellers is listed as one of the film's producers, along with Zakir and Pizarro.
"Kamala" will also be available for SVOD and PVOD before the 2024 election on Nov. 5 according to the report.
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Donald Trump Film Coming: Harris likely has no problem with a documentary celebrating her political rise and legacy hitting theaters. But Former President Trump isn't going to be happy about the movie depicting his life.
"The Apprentice," which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May, received an eight-minute standing ovation, has an official theatrical release date of Oct. 18, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
“Pam and Tommy” star Sebastian Stan is playing a young Trump while “Succession” star Jeremy Strong portrays lawyer and fixer Roy Cohn. The film shows the relationship between Cohn and Trump, as mentor and protégée, throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
"It charts a young Donald Trump's ascent to power through a Faustian deal with the influential right-wing lawyer and political fixer Roy Cohn," the film's synopsis reads.
"The Apprentice" has been met with criticism for portraying Trump negatively with scenes of the former president using racial discrimination for real estate, drug use for weight loss, having surgery for baldness, and an alleged rape of former wife Ivana Trump.
Trump's team has threatened legal action over the film's release and criticized the accuracy of several scenes.
Trump's campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung also criticized the film's release.
"This ‘film' is pure malicious defamation, should not see the light of day and doesn't even deserve a place in the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a soon-to-be-closed discount movie store, it belongs in a dumpster fire," Cheung said.
The film's director Ali Abbasi clapped back at the criticism, as well as the potential lawsuit.
“There is no nice metaphorical way to deal with fascism,” Abbasi said. “It’s time to make movies relevant. It’s time to make movies political again.”
Abbasi said that Trump and his team might be surprised by the movie: “I don’t necessarily think that this is a movie he would dislike. I don’t necessarily think he would like it. I think he would be surprised, you know?”
The film received an eight-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival in May, prompting reports that it could hit theaters before the 2024 election.
“We have a promotional event coming up called U.S. Election that is going to help us with the movie. The second debate is going to be Sept. 15, something like that, so that’s a good release date I would say,” Abbasi previously said.
The film rights for "The Apprentice" were acquired by Briarcliff. A release in October could set the film up for potential award buzz during the key awards season release window.
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