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The Great Invisible

– by Margaret Brown

    1. Nonfiction

    2. Date Awarded: Winter 2011

    3. Directors(s): Margaret Brown

    1. Producer(s): Jason Orans, John Battsek (EP), Julie Goldman (EP)

    2. Location: USA

    1. Film Status: In Post-Production

    2. URL: » Margaret Brown Films site

About the Film:

The Great Invisible looks at the global oil economy through the lens of characters that work in the oil and fishing industries on the Gulf Coast. The film will be shot in a verité style with select interviews. In addition to the people woven into this collective portrait, the oil world will be established as a distinct character, through its landscapes.

About the Filmmakers:

Margaret Brown (Producer/Director) received the 2010 Peabody Award for her second documentary feature The Order of Myths, which also received the Truer Than Fiction Award at the 2009 Independent Spirit Awards and was nominated for Best Documentary. Brown received the Cinematic Vision Award at the 2008 Silverdocs Film Festival, the 2008 Grierson Youth Jury Award in England, and was nominated for four Cinema Eyes awards including Best Documentary and Best Director. Brown’s first feature was the acclaimed documentary Be There to Love Me: A Film about Townes Van Zandt, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and received worldwide theatrical distribution.

Jason Orans (Producer) was nominated for the 2009 Independent Spirit Producers Award and was nominated for a Spirit Award again in 2011. His most recent film Night Catches Us premiered in Sundance’s 2010 Dramatic Competition, was released in theaters in 2011 and was nominated for Gotham, Spirit and Image Awards. His 2009 theatrical releases were Dare and Ramin Bahrani’s Goodbye Solo, winner of the FIPRESCI International Critics Prize at Venice 2008, and a Gotham and Independent Spirit nominee. He is currently producing The Normals, a dark comedy starring Bryan Greenberg and Jess Weixler.

John Battsek (Executive Producer) has produced a slate of over twenty five documentary films at Passion Pictures including One Day in September, In the Shadow of the Moon, My Kid Could Paint That and Sergio. More recently, Restrepo won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance 2010 and The Tillman Story was acquired by The Weinstein Company. Both were released theatrically in the U.S. this summer. Passion’s most recently completed film Stones in Exile premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, and Project Nim won the World Directing Award at Sundance 2011.

Julie Goldman (Executive Producer) has produced a wide range of award winning documentaries that have been distributed around the world. She was nominated for the PGA Producer of the Year Award for Sergio, which was Emmy nominated and shortlisted for the 2010 Documentary Feature Academy Award. She was a consultant on the Academy Award winning The Cove. Goldman recently produced Sons of Perdition and is currently in production on a slate of films, including Hungry in America and Believe. Previous films include: Once in a Lifetime, Sketches of Frank Gehry, Cat Dancers, In the Shadow of the Moon and Buck, Sundance 2011 Documentary Audience Award Winner.