Nov 15: Following its world premiere at the Hamptons International Film Festival and European premiere at BFI London FF, National Geographic Documentary Films has announced a November 26 UK theatrical release date for The First Wave.
The film has won several awards on the festival circuit, most recently the David Carr Award at the Montclair Film Festival, honouring a film exemplifying a commitment to “truth-telling in reporting.”
The First Wave is the latest film from BAFTA and Oscar-nominated and multiple Emmy award-winning director Matthew Heineman. Heineman produced the film under his Our Time Projects banner alongside producers Jenna Millman (The Boy From Medellín) and Leslie Norville (A Ballerina’s Tale). The First Wave will be released by Dogwoof in UK cinemas from Friday 26th November 2021.
The statement reads how, “with exclusive access inside Long Island Jewish Medical Center, one of New York’s hardest-hit hospitals during the terrifying first four months of the pandemic, director Matthew Heineman’s The First Wave spotlights the everyday heroes at the epicentre of COVID-19 as they come together to fight one of the greatest threats the world has ever encountered. Leaving a devastating trail of death and despair, this once-in-a-century pandemic changed the very fabric of our daily lives and exposed long-standing inequities in our society.”
Commented Heineman: “I felt a deep responsibility to document this unprecedented moment in time, to put people in the shoes of those who lived it on the front lines…There are many things that I hope audiences take away from this film, but for me, it’s a story about how people come together in times of crisis, it’s about resilience, it’s about the power of hope and the strength of the human spirit.”
Said Carolyn Bernstein, executive vice president of Scripted Content and Documentary Films for National Geographic: “Matthew has a unique talent for gripping and deeply intimate filmmaking that reveals the humanity at the heart of every story he tells. We couldn’t think of a more urgent time to share this compelling and inspiring work of art with the world.”
Heineman is an Academy Award®-nominated and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker “known for his sophisticated and immersive style.” Heineman received a nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First Time Feature Film Director from the Directors Guild of America for his narrative debut A Private War — making Heineman and Martin Scorsese the only filmmakers ever nominated for both narrative and documentary DGA Awards. He previously directed the documentary Cartel Land, which was nominated for an Academy Award and won three Primetime Emmy Awards and a DGA Award; City of Ghosts for which he won a DGA Award; and the docuseries The Trade which just won two Emmys and was honoured by the International Documentary Association as the Best Episodic Series of 2018.
Heineman most recently directed and produced HBO’s Tiger, a two-part documentary on the legendary Tiger Woods, and The Boy From Medellín, chronicling the life of global superstar J. Balvin over a pivotal week in his life. His next project is Paradise, which he is set to write and direct, a narrative adaptation of the true events of the 2018 Paradise Fire.
National Geographic Documentary Films previously released the Academy Award®, BAFTA and seven-time Emmy Award-winning film Free Solo and the Academy Award®-nominated film The Cave. Other critically acclaimed films under the banner include Ron Howard’s Rebuilding Paradise; Sundance Audience Award winners Science Fair and Sea Of Shadows; Emmy winners LA 92 and Jane, both of which were included in the top 15 documentaries considered for an Academy Award® in 2017; and Dupont Award winner Hell On Earth: The Fall Of Syria And The Rise Of Isis.
