Festival Predictions

2013 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Errol Morris’ The Unknown Known: The Life and Times of Donald Rumsfeld

Published on November 22, 2012

After a trio of titles (92’s A Brief History of Time ,97’s Fast Cheap & Out of Control, 99’s Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.) Errol Morris hasn’t presented a docu at the fest in some time. A promo reel was shown in Cannes and at TIFF, RADiUS-TWC picked up the rights and mention that a 2013 release is planned for The Unknown Known: The Life and Times of Donald Rumsfeld. Logically they might want to lock the helmer down before it conflicts with the production of Freezing People Is Easy – Morris’ feature debut.

Gist: Former United States Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, discusses his career in Washington D.C. from his days as a congressman in the early 1960s to planning the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Production Co./Producers: Errol Morris, History Films, Radius-TWC and Participant Media

Prediction: U.S. Documentary Competition or Spotlight Documentary

U.S. Distributor: RADiUS-TWC

Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).