For Immediate Release
Kino Releases Kevin Rafferty's acclaimed Documentary Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 on DVD and Blu-ray.
"A RIPPING GOOD YARN...
with an uproarious, impossible Hollywood ending"
- Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com
"PREPOSTEROUSLY ENTERTAINING...
Pulses with artful, exciting beats of a thriller."
- Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
New York, NY - May, 2009 - After a successful theatrical release in over 100 markets across the United States, including its premiere at New York's top art-house theater, Film Forum, Kino International is proud to release Kevin Rafferty's (The Atomic Café) documentary Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 (2008) on both standard DVD and Blu-ray.
As special features, this Kino DVD and Blu-ray release bring an additional 73 minutes of interview clips not included in the film, where the players provide a deeper look at the season, the game, and its aftermath. The film's theatrical trailer is also included in both formats. This "preposterously entertaining" (Manohla Dargis, The New York Times) documentary will become available on both DVD and Blu-Ray on July 28, 2009, with a SRP of $26.95 on DVD and $34.95 on Blu-ray.
An extraordinary retelling of one of the most famous college football games in history, Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 was an official selection at last year's Toronto International Film Festival and has gathered outstanding reviews from top US critics.
J. Hoberman, from The Village Voice, referred to Harvard Beats Yale as "the best football movie I've ever seen," and Kenneth Turan, from the Los Angeles Times, wrote that Harvard Beats Yale is "an irresistible human story and as fine a documentary about football as 'Hoop Dreams' was on basketball."
Accolades aside, Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 offers a rare play-by-play account of the wildly unpredictable 1968 game between the two giant football teams, interwoven with the players' unguarded recollections of the socio-political milieu of the time.
The two Ivy League squads, both of which entered the contest undefeated, included members of both the paramilitary ROTC and the antiwar SDS; at Harvard, the team also included actor Tommy Lee Jones (who reminisces about his roommate Al Gore), while Yale's star quarterback Brian Dowling became the inspiration for "B.D." the jock character in Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury comic strip. The Yale fullback had a fan in Vassar student Meryl Streep.
As Jones puts it, "ideas were flying like bullets," and it becomes clear by the end of Rafferty's film that this was a social experience that resonated well beyond one Saturday on the playing field.
Filmmaker Kevin Rafferty was born in Boston and studied architecture at Harvard and film at the California Institute of the Arts.
His debut documentary feature, The Atomic Café (1982), was named Best Documentary of the year by the Boston Society of Film Critics; his credits as cinematographer include Michael Moore's Roger & Me (1989), and he has co-directed (and often produced) several other documentaries, including Blood in The Face (1991), Feed (1992), The Last Cigarette (1999) and Who Wants to Be President (2000).
Special Features:
- Bonus Interviews (73 min.) In additional interview excerpts not included in the film, the players provide a deeper look at the season, the game, and its aftermath.
- Theatrical Trailer
HARVARD BEATS YALE 29-29
2008 / US / 104 min. / Color / Letterboxed (1.85:1)
Featuring TOMMY LEE JONES - BRIAN DOWLING - VIC GATTO
FRANK CHAMPI - MIKE BOUSCAREN - J.P. GOLDSMITH - PAT CONWAY
BRUCE WEINSTEIN - FRITZ REED - DEL MARTING - BRUCE FREEMAN
KYLE GEE - PETE VARNEY - BOB LEVIN - GEORGE LALICH - NICK DAVIDSON MICK KLEBER - BILL KELLY - JOHN IGNACIO - GUS CRIM - DICK WILLIAMS
RICK FRISBIE - JIM and FRAN GALLAGHER
Sportscaster DON GILLIS
Cinematographer, Sound and Editing - KEVIN RAFFERTY
Online Editor / Colorist STEVE PEQUIGNOT - GLUE EDITING & DESIGN
Sound Design and Mix MARGARET CRIMMINS and GREG SMITH
DOG BARK SOUND
Music Arranged and Performed by GREG SMITH
Produced and Directed by KEVIN RAFFERTY
© 2008 Kevin Rafferty Productions
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