Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Tower (2016 film)

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
9
/
10
1
Votes
Alchetron
9
9
1 Ratings
100
91
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
Rate This

Rate This

8/10
IMDb

Directed by
  
Keith Maitland

Initial release
  
12 October 2016 (USA)

Cast
  
Reece Everett Ryan



Country
  
United States

Director
  
Keith Maitland

Tower (2016 film) t3gstaticcomimagesqtbnANd9GcSZmr69UGqt4WXTkk

Running time
  
92 minutes (SXSW screening)82 minutes

Awards
  
Critics' Choice Documentary Award Most Innovative Documentary

Nominations
  
Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Documentary

Producers
  
Keith Maitland, Megan Gilbride, Susan Thomson

Similar
  
Sniper movies, Documentaries

Tower is a 2016 animated documentary film directed by Keith Maitland about the 1966 shootings at the University of Texas at Austin. The film is 82 minutes long, reduced from 92 minutes after the SXSW screening and premiered at the 2016 South by Southwest.

Contents

Tower (2016 film) Tower Movie Review amp Film Summary 2016 Roger Ebert

Tower official trailer 1 2016 documentary


Summary

Tower (2016 film) Tower Documentary

On August 1, 1966, Charles Whitman rode the elevator to the top floor of the University of Texas Tower and opened fire, holding the campus hostage for 96 minutes. When the gunshots were finally silenced, the toll included 16 dead, three dozen wounded, and a shaken nation left trying to understand what had happened. Archival footage is combined with rotoscopic animation in a dynamic, never-before-seen way to illustrate the action-packed untold stories of the witnesses, heroes and survivors.

Production

Tower (2016 film) SXSW 2016 Review 39Tower39 Presents an Original Perspective on the

The film is based on a 2006 Texas Monthly article by Pamela Colloff, "96 Minutes." Maitland originated from New Jersey and attended UT Austin. Maitland read the article in 2006 and asked Colloff to have lunch with him. He suggested making a film about the incident during the meeting. Colloff became one of the executive producers of the film. Various University of Texas students worked on the film as interns.

Tower (2016 film) ErikLundegaardcom Movie Review Tower 2016

To finance the film the creators opened an Indiegogo, generating almost $70,000 from over 330 people in six weeks. In the final few days alumni of UT offered up a matching grant

Tower (2016 film) TOWER Accepted Film 2016 SXSW YouTube

Early on Maitland realized that he and his team likely would not be able to film reenactments on the University campus and so they decided to opt for an animated aesthetic " to show the geography of the campus" Footage was mostly shot in Maitland's backyard and then animated by production company Minnow Mountain who was aided by pictures Maitland had shot around campus. Over 100 people were interviewed including at-the-time media members, police, students, and faculty, who had witnessed the events, but a few selective interviews were used.

Reception

Tower (2016 film) SXSW Movie Review Tower Austin Movie Blog

Tower achieved unanimous approval on Rotten Tomatoes based on 73 reviews. Justin Chang of Variety wrote that the film is "a uniquely cinematic memorial that will be in demand from programmers and buyers as the 50th anniversary of the shootings approaches."

References

Tower (2016 film) Wikipedia


Similar Topics