The Red Flag is Up for ‘8: The Mormon Proposition’

Paul Federbush and former Warner Independent Pictures’s head Laura Kim are starting up a new distribution company going by the name of Red Flag Releasing and they’ll get the business started with a Sundance doc that ruffled many feathers before anyone even laid eyes on the film. Much like how people invest in the stock market, perhaps the best time for new distribution companies to get into the action is when the industry is at low point, and they’ll release a doc film with bite this Spring in Reed Cowan’s 8: The Mormon Proposition. Here’s the synopsis:…

8:TMP follows the stories of many LGBT citizens seeking marriage equality and never-before revealed Mormon efforts to stop them. The stories of Tyler Barrick and Spencer Jones, two gay Mormon men, are the marquis players in 8:TMP. Barrick is the direct descendant of Mormon polygamist Fredrick G. Williams. The Barrick-Jones family history tells tales of Mormon ancestors chased from state to state because of their own practice of alternative marriage (polygamy). Now, decades later, the Barrick-Jones family is experiencing cultural and governmental discrimination of the same kind that haunted their ancestors. Only now, they’re at war with their own religion of Mormonism and the people their religion seduced into voting against their union. “When 8 passed, I called my mother crying–why did the Mormons do this to us? Why would our own people do this to us? They have turned their backs on us,” says Tyler Barrick.

Here is more from IndieWIRE on the motivations behind the upstart:.. 

Red Flag Releasing (RFR), was created—in the words of an official announcement today—“out of a desire to create new paths and opportunities for independent filmmakers in this age of ubiquitous technological change.” The company reiterated, in their Wednesday release, that they will, “operate with agility and innovation, taking advantage of every available platform to customize a release that is organic to the needs of each film.”

RFR intends to acquire completed films at festivals in its first year, and also pursue projects for which it can provide finishing funds. The new outfit will not shy away from politically themed or issue oriented movies, Federbush said today. Yet, they certainly don’t want to be pigeon-holed. He added that the company will grow organically, is well capitalized and will pursue releases with breakout potential. They are working with Ron Stein to raise additional capital to support the future growth of the new company.