MONTY PYTHON THE MEANING OF LIVE (2014) A comic treasure of a film. 5 stars The Mail on Sunday

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1 MONTY PYTHON THE MEANING OF LIVE (2014) A comic treasure of a film. 5 stars The Mail on Sunday SYNOPSIS This is a uniquely intimate documentary about comedy s original super group, capturing the most anticipated comeback show in comedy. It follows the stars of Monty Python as they reunite for a final time to stage a marathon ten shows of Monty Python Live (mostly) One Down Five to Go at The O2, London in July With unprecedented access, this observational portrait reveals the humour, chaos and passion that went into bringing the Flying Circus to the stage. It offers a unique insight into the inner workings of five diverse talents pulling together after a 34- year hiatus to recreate their unique brand of comedy for a legion of fans and celebrity admirers. As well as following their journey to The O2, this intimate and provocative documentary includes never before seen archive footage from the group s early live shows, including Live at the Hollywood Bowl in 1980, and reveals how they pioneered stadium comedy. It is the Pythons as never seen before, and will never be seen again. For the first time, the members of Monty Python open up about their approach to comedy, their worldviews and the tensions within the group. It is both a vibrant film that captures the essence of Monty Python and a legacy piece that chronicles how a group of diverse talents came together and changed the history of comedy. DIRECTORS BIOGRAPHIES JAMES ROGAN James Rogan DOB 06/07/1980, place of birth London, UK James Rogan is an award- winning writer/director/producer. He is best known internationally for his feature documentaries for the Oscar- winning BBC Storyville: Amnesty! When They Are All Free, The Trouble with Pirate (both with his Meaning of Live co- director Roger Graef as Executive Producer) and Blog Wars for Sundance. They cover such diverse topics as the rise of the global human rights movement, the impact of Somali piracy and the influence of political blogging. Most recently, he finished Welcome to Mayfair for the BBC s iconic Modern Times strand about London s most affluent and characterful area. James is also an accomplished director of fiction and commercials. He directed the feature film Dead Bolt Dead and has written several screenplays. In

2 commercials, he has worked with brands such as HSBC, the Greater London Authority and Honda. James was a Fulbright scholar at the NYU Graduate Film Program in Selected Filmography: Welcome to Mayfair Monty Python: The Meaning of Live Amnesty! When They Are All Free The Trouble with Pirates Blog Wars ROGER GRAEF Roger Graef OBE is Chair of Films of Record, a high end London based documentary company he founded in He is an award winning filmmaker, criminologist, and writer. He is the only documentary maker awarded the Bafta Fellowship for Lifetime Achievement. In 2014 he was given a Tribute evening by Bafta for fifty years in filmmaking. And a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Sheffield and Aldeburgh Doc fests. Born in NYC, he moved to London in 1962 as a theatre director. He turned to documentaries with a short film about a child born without arms because of Thalidomide. One of Them Is Brett won awards, and was shown on the ABC Network in the US, the CBC, ABC in Australia and elsewhere. Showing this child as normal and not a victim, it went straight into medical school curricula. He is best known for his unstaged observational films in normally closed places including multinational corporation board rooms, government ministries, the US Senate and EU headquarters, prisons, probation, family therapy, special schools, hospitals and social work. He directed The Life and Times of John Huston for public television in the US, the BBC and CBC, Nominated for an Emmy, it is believed to be the very first doc co- production. Over fifty years, his many films cover the arts, science, social justice and especially criminal justice. In the Bafta winning Police series, the episode on rape changed the way British police deal with rape victims. It was deemed the most influential doc ever shown on UK. In the Names of Allah, for BBC,PBS and German tv was the first long form doc about Islam. He also made innovative observational comedy films including The Secret Policeman's Ball and several other Amnesty comedies with Monty Python and other comics. He is a champion of multi- platform media. He has been a mentor at six Crossover workshops, and was Exec of web lives, the first online doc series for itv.com. Most recently he Exec Produced CERNpeople, fifteen short films for google+ and youtube about the search for the Higgs Bosun and anti- matter at CERN. He is Executive Producer of many films, including Kim Longinotto s award winning Hold Me Tight Let Me Go, Brian Hill s Bafta winning Feltham Sings, the Grierson award winning Requiem for Detroit? directed by Julien Temple, and the

3 highly praised Great Ormond Street series. His many current affairs programmes include Panorama Special: Kids In Care, which won an RTS Award, Panorama Special: The Truth About Adoption which influenced government policy on adoption, Storyville: The Trouble with Pirates and Amnesty! When They Are All Free, directed by James Rogan, his co- director on the latest Python film. He has gone back to directing with Monty Python - The Meaning of Live, and is now editing an hour long doc for the BBC, Who Needs Arms? the sequel to his very first film in 1965, One of Them is Brett. FULL PRODUCTION CREDITS STARRING John Cleese Terry Gilliam Eric Idle Terry Jones Michael Palin with Graham Chapman Featuring Carol Cleveland, Professor Brian Cox, Stephen Hawking and Mike Myers. DIRECTED BY Roger Graef & James Rogan PRODUCED BY Holly Gilliam Jim Beach PRODUCED for PHIL MCINTYRE TELEVISION BY Lindsay Jex EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Lucy Ansbro EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS FOR UKTV Hilary Rosen Richard Watsham EDITORS Simon Barker David Atkinson CAMERA Paul Shammasian James Rogan Charlie Laing Oliver Cheetham

4 James Rogan Luke Hallam DUBBING MIXER Matt Skilton COLOURIST Peter Lynch GRAPHICS Lips- iam Andy A Court ONLINE EDITOR Adam Grant COLOURIST Peter Lynch GRAPHICS Lips- iam Andy A Court ONLINE EDITOR Adam Grant PRODUCTION COORDINATORS Paul McDonagh Caroline McGuire LINE PRODUCER Fiona Frankland ARCHIVE PRODUCER Libby Gregory ARCHIVE SOURCES Amnesty International UK Barrie Wentzell BBC Motion Gallery / Getty Images Bruce Cole Gary Cullen Getty Images ITN Source Jack Manning/NYT/Redux/eyevine Jill Furmanovsky KERA / Channel 13 Martha Swope / New York Public Library Michael Putland

5 Mirrorpix Neil Innes Python (Monty) Pictures Ltd Sam Emerson Sky News SoTV/ BBC Television / ITV Rights / ITN Source Steve Morley Terry Jones The Rolling Stones TK One Ltd V&A Images

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