SPOTLIGHT of THE WEEK
"NETFLIX'S A KING LIKE ME"
(New York, NY) - "A King Like
Me," a documentary about the New Orleans Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club, the legendary 116 year old benevolent
society, and first ever Black Mardi Gras Krewe, has been acquired by Netflix, to launch on June 19. The film follows members
of the Zulu Krewe as they work to bring the Zulu parade back to the streets for Mardi Gras Day 2022 in the face of Hurricane
Ida, a global pandemic, and the tragic loss of an unprecedented number of members to COVID.
A King Like Me paints a modern portrait of Black brotherhood, leadership and community,
while exploring health & social inequities in the United States tied to race. Through its study of the Zulu Club's origins,
the film highlights the ways Black people and Black culture have shaped both New Orleans and the nation. After premiering
at the SXSW Film Festival last year, the film was honored as the opening night film at the New Orleans Film Festival, and
won Best Documentary at Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival.
The documentary is Matthew O. Henderson's directorial debut. As a producer, he's worked on a number
of films including Fragments of Paradise, which had its World Premiere at the 2022 Venice Film Festival, winning Best Documentary
on Cinema; True Justice: Bryan Stevenson's Fight for Equality, which won a Peabody Award and an Emmy Award for Outstanding
Social Issue Documentary; The Soul of America; Gordon Parks: A Choice of Weapons; and Obama: In Pursuit of a More Perfect
Union. As a Black filmmaker of Caribbean descent and a native of Brooklyn, NY, Henderson also shares a deep pride in the place
he's from - a characteristic that he notes "oozes from every native New Orleanian that speaks in the film."
In the summer of 2020 - at the height of the pandemic and just months
after the murder of George Floyd, Henderson & Stevens drove from New York to New Orleans to meet with some members of
the Zulu Club to hear about their experience, and were soon swept up in discouragingly familiar stories of the disparate effects
of inequality, but they were also inspired by the hope and resilience of this community.
Netflix has a long and commercially successful relationship with the film's producer
Fisher Stevens, who directed and produced Netflix's Emmy-winning & BAFTA-nominated docu-series Beckham as well as produced
the streamer's hit Emmy-nominated Tiger King docu-series. A King Like Me will be Steven's third Netflix Original production,
the latest in his robust slate of impact documentaries that includes The Cove, which earned him an Oscar for Best Feature
Documentary, along with And We Go Green, Before the Flood and many others.
Stevens produced the film with New Orleans producer Darcy McKinnon, as well as Maura Anderson and
Julie Nives under his Highly Flammable shingle. Impact Partners' Jenny Raskin and Rhea Films' Terry Dougas and Paris Kassidokostas-Latsis
also produced. Kevin Hart‘s Hartbeat and Robin Roberts‘ Rock'n Robin Productions have recently joined Impact Partners'
Geralyn White Dreyfous, Dat's Funny Clarence Otis and Jean-Luc De Fanti, Highly Flammable's Zak Kilberg, Adam & Melony
Lewis, and Regina K. Scully as executive producers. Kevin Hart, Bryan Smiley, and Luke Kelly-Clyne serve as Executive Producers
for Hartbeat. Robin Roberts and Reni Calister serve as Executive Producers for Rock'n Robin Productions.
WME is representing the documentary for sales. Rock'n Robin Productions
is repped by WME and Envisionary Management; Hartbeat is repped by WME. Highly Flammable is repped by WME and Gray Schwartz
LLP. Stevens is repped by WME, Untitled and Danny Passman.
Founded
by Kevin Hart, Hartbeat is the global, multi-platform entertainment company creating content and experiences at the intersection
of comedy and culture - with a mission to keep the world laughing together. Hartbeat finances, develops, and produces content
for all platforms; connects with consumers around the world through events and the company's expansive distribution network;
and co-creates entertainment and builds award-winning IP alongside brands. Hartbeat's flagship consumer brand, the LOL! Network,
reaches audiences across its O&O social media, audio, and FAST partners. Led by an award-winning team, Hartbeat is a valuable
partner to the biggest entertainment companies, platforms and brands in the world, driving cultural currency and generating
sales, subscriptions, buzz, and conversation with some of the most coveted audiences.
Rock'n Robin Productions
Headed by Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts, Rock'n Robin Productions is an award
winning production company based in New York and Los Angeles, creating exciting programming for network, cable, streamers,
and online audiences. With a focus on storytelling that captivates and connects, our projects range from documentaries and
talk shows, to news driven specials, scripted dramas, sports programming and short form digital series. Regular clients of
RRP include ABC, ESPN, Lifetime, Disney+ & espnW. For more information, go to www.rocknrobin.tv
Oscar-winning and Emmy-winning, multi-hyphenate Fisher Stevens, the
producer behind award-winning documentaries THE COVE and TIGER KING, and director of 2023 smash hit BECKHAM (Netflix) and
the acclaimed features PALMER (Apple) and BEFORE THE FLOOD (NatGeo), has joined forces with producer Zak Kilberg and producer/director
Maura Anderson to form Highly Flammable, a production company with groundbreaking content as explosive as its name. Anderson
is an Emmy nominated producer, who has produced documentary series for Netflix, FX, HBO, and Obama's Higher Ground. She recently
co-directed feature documentary KICKBACK about FIFA corruption, and she is in production and development on several feature
documentaries as both director and producer. Kilberg's projects, which include Golden Globe-winner The Mauritanian
and International Emmy-winner Bellingcat, have been acquired by top distributors worldwide, including Universal, Lionsgate,
Netflix, HBO, Showtime, IFC, Amazon Studios, STX, etc., as well as boasting laurels from Sundance, Berlin, SXSW, Hotdocs,
IDFA and BAFTA. Brought together by the shared goal of delivering world class, critically acclaimed and commercial content
to global audiences, the Highly Flammable creative team also share the desire to make a positive impact on our world through
their art.
Impact Partners
Impact Partners is dedicated to funding independent documentary storytelling
that entertains audiences, engages with pressing social issues, and propels the art of cinema forward. Over the span of 15
years, Impact Partners has been involved in the financing of over 150 films, including: ICARUS, which won the 2018 Academy
Award® for Best Documentary Feature; 32 SOUNDS, which won 2024 Cinema Eye Honors for Outstanding Nonfiction Feature; "AfterShock",
which won a 2023 Peabody Award, "Won't You Be My Neighbor?", which won the 2019 Independent Spirit Award for Best
Documentary; "Dina", which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and was named Best Feature
by the International Documentary Association; "The Eagle Huntress", which was nominated for the 2017 BAFTA Award
for Best Documentary; "How to Survive a Plague", which was nominated for the 2013 Academy Award® for Best Documentary
Feature; OF "Fathers and Sons", which was nominated for the 2019 Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature;
and "Hell and Back Again", which won the Documentary Grand Jury Prize Award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and
was nominated for the Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature.
Hercules and Rhea have financed and produced several motion pictures, including "American Made"
(directed by Doug Liman, starring Tom Cruise, released worldwide by Universal), "Good Time" (directed by the Safdie
Brothers, starring Robert Pattinson, released by A24), "A Simple Favor" (directed by Paul Feig, starring Anna Kendrick
and Blake Lively, released worldwide by Lionsgate), "Unicorn Store" (starring Academy Award winner Brie Larson,
Samuel L. Jackson and directed by Brie herself, released by Netflix), "I Am Mother" (directed by Grant Sputore,
starring Hilary Swank and Rose Byrne, released by Netflix), "Bruised" (directed by and starring Halle Berry, released
by Netflix) and "Daddio" (written and directed by Christy Hall, starring Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn).
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(Source: Betsey Rudnick PR)
