Showtime Picks Up ‘Surge’ Docu About Historic 2018 Midterm Election – Film Briefs

Showtime has secured the right to Surge, a documentary that will play on the premium cabler’s newly established a co-branded multiplex channel SHOxBET on September 8. Co-directed by Hannah Rosenzweig and Wendy Sachs, the film details the historic 2018 midterm elections where a record number of first-time female candidates ran and won. From executive producers Alyssa Milano, Regina K. Scully, Dara, Jedd Canty, and Tanya Selvarantnam as well as advisor Katie Couric, the film sets to expose the double standards, biases and brutal realities women face running for Congress, some without the support of their own party. The doc centers on three congressional candidates in Texas, Indiana, and Illinois, who were each looking to flip their deep red districts to blue, including Lauren Underwood, the youngest Black woman ever to be elected to Congress. A registered nurse and public health expert, Underwood is now on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic and a leading voice on racial injustice. “With the historic nomination of a Black female vice presidential candidate and with more women running for office in 2020 than ever before in America’s history, it’s clear that the surge has continued,” said the directors. “Our film is more timely than ever because it’s not just about women running for office, but about women getting behind women running for office and how critical it is to turn out the female vote.”

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(L-R) LisaRaye McCoy, Michael Colyar, AJ Johnson and Maryam Basir AP; Maryam Basir

LisaRaye McCoy, Michael Colyar, AJ Johnson and Maryam Basir have signed on to star in Holiday Heartbreak, romantic Christmas comedy from producer Tressa Azarel Smallwood and her MegaMind Media production company. Charles Jones is directing from a script by Tiffany Yancy. The plot follows a helpless romantic unknowingly cursed with relationship problems passed down from her father’s bad luck of mishandling women. In honor of her 30th birthday, Monica McCoy (Basir) is looking forward to spending quality time with her childhood friends, and loving father, ‘Mike McCoy’ (Michael Colyar) for the Christmas holiday. They have a very close relationship, the kind little girls would dream about until their candid conversations culminate with the realization of why Monica believes she is cursed and may never find “the one.” Influencers B. Simone, Kountry Wayne, and Jay Cole co-star. The pic is slated for release sometime after Labor Day 2020.

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The Nacelle Company has scooped up the Jonathan Sutak-directed documentary Dons of Disco, about the lip-syncing controversy surrounding 80s Italian pop star Den Harrow. The doc, which has screened at the 2019 Slamdance Film Festival and won a Jury Award at last year’s Lighthouse International Film Festival, will be released through on digital platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube and more. Harrow topped the European charts with hits like Future Brain, Bad Boy, and Don’t Break My Heart. 30 years later, American Tom Hooker alleges that he was the actual voice behind the project, and frontman Stefano Zandri has been lip-syncing for decades. Anna Roberts of The Nacelle Company and Steven C. Beer of Franklin Weinrib Rudell & Vassallo negotiated the deal.