“BROTHER VERSES BROTHER”
Featuring The Brothers Gold
Directed by Ari Gold • Music by Ethan Gold
Executive Produced by Francis Ford Coppola
Premieres: USA - SXSW (Sold Out), California - Mill Valley Film Festival (Sold Out).
Premiere in U.K. coming soon
100% on Rotten Tomatoes
“Brother Verses Brother is an absolute delight -
genuine, adventurous, funny and deeply felt -
and the sort of film that should become
a word-of-mouth musical sleeper hit
like Once before it”
- Alex Ritman, London Bureau Chief, Variety
This film is an experience like no other - a taste of life itself, as Coppola envisioned in his precepts of Live Cinema - wrapped in a narrative that is funny, combative, musical, and deeply human.
In 90 minutes of real-time cinema, codependent twin musicians Ari and Ethan Gold hunt the streets of San Francisco for love, a song, and their dying father - a 99 year old Beat Generation poet, the last of his kind. What we find, at the end of the search, is their father’s final performance - captured on film only weeks before his death.
Brother Verses Brother plays out in a single, continuous, unbroken take through North Beach: the bars, the bookshops, the hidden rooms where Kerouac and Ginsberg once created their verses. In the tradition of Once and Before Sunrise, this is a funny and moving testament to the power of music, the bonds of brotherhood, and the life of a city.
Co-starring Brian Bell of Weezer, San Francisco's Poet Laureate Tongo Eisen-Martin, and newcomer Dutch chanteuse Lara Louise.
Who This Reaches
Brother Verses Brother arrives at the intersection of multiple passionate, loyal audiences.
Arthouse movie fans are drawn by the single-take form, the 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating, and the Coppola credit.
Music audiences come through the original score and the Brother Verses live event model - reaching BBC 6 Music, Uncut, Mojo, The Guardian, NME alongside concert venue communities.
Literary audiences have their own entry point in the last Beat poet's final performance. Kerouac, Ginsberg and Henry Miller have a devoted British readership, and the film pays tribute to all three. The Guardian Review, TLS, and Granta could add to the UK press that has already supported the film (Deadline, Variety, Monocle, etc..).
LIVE CINEMA PROMO
The live-event model - proven at Mill Valley, where screenings sold out and the “Brother Verses” Variety Show was co-hosted by an MC from The Moth - turns screenings into something people talk about the next day. Touring the UK, the Brothers will also pair the film with live performances by local musicians and storytellers, driving repeat attendance, earning music and arts press. The audience from theaters becomes the evangelists who drive streaming demand.
Press & Awards
The film enters distribution with unanimous critical praise, festival pedigree, and a story with genuine news value across film, music, and literary press simultaneously. IndieWire, Variety, Sight & Sound, and Letterboxd for the film world; NME, Mojo, and Uncut for the music world, for example - all have a distinct, legitimate angle in. The film is also set for theatrical release in Germany, confirming its international arthouse appeal. And with a committed partner, the film is positioned for BIFA consideration.
“What Brother Verses Brother manages to put on screen is nothing like any film I’ve seen…. A ninety-minute single-take musical that does more to levitate the spirits of the viewer than a hundred Wickeds ever could…. Rarely do I feel privileged to have seen a film, but after watching Brother Verses Brother… I am honored.” - Screen Anarchy
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