"Undefeated" Wins Oscar for Best Documentary Feature

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Last night’s winners for Best Documentary feature "Undefeated," T. J. Martin, Dan Lindsay and Rich Middlemas brought home the Oscar for their emotional, yet uplifting film chronicling the lives of 17 young 2009 Manassas Tigers’ football players. Making T.J. Martin the first African American to win an Oscar for directing a film. Producers included, Rich Middlemas, Seth Gordon, Ed Cunningham, Glen Zipper and Sean “P Diddy” Combs.

"Undefeated" is set in inner-city Memphis and focuses on a heart of a lion football coach, Bill Courtney and three of the Tiger’s main football players Chavis Daniels, Montrail "Money" Brown and O.C. Brown. Each player comes from uniquely different upbringings, but all have the same desire to win. This film takes you on a emotional rollercoaster watching the lives of these young men, cheering not only for them to win on the field but also off the field.

A moving documentary film, "Undefeated" allows audiences to take an ethnographic look into the lives of underprivileged teens and witness how positive thinking and determination can change the course of history.


Rating: PG-13

Running Time: 113 minutes

Website: http://www.weinsteinco.com/sites/undefeated

Photo credit: JOEL RYAN AP

Rich Middlemas, T. J. Martin and Daniel Lindsay pose with their Oscars for best documentary feature for their work in "Undefeated" during the 84th Academy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles.

"Undefeated" - #Oscar Winner for Best Documentary

UNDEFEATED

Genre: Documentary

Studio: The Weinstein Company

Release Date: February 17, 2012 (NY & LA)
*expansion pending

Rating: PG-13

Running Time: 113 minutes




Talent: Bill Courtney (Coach, Manassas Tigers football team)
Chavis (Player, Manassas High School football team)
Montrail “Money” (Player, Manassas High School football team)
O.C. (Player, Manassas High School football team)

Directors: Dan Lindsay & T.J. Marti

Producers: Rich Middlemas, Seth Gordon, Ed Cunningham, Glen Zipper

Website: http://www.weinsteinco.com/sites/undefeated

Synopsis: Academy–Award© nominated documentary UNDEFEATED is set in the inner- city of Memphis chronicling the Manassas Tigers’ 2009 football season, on and off-the-field, as they strive to win the first playoff game in the high school’s 110-year history.

A perennial whipping boy, in recent decades Manassas had gone so far as to sell their home games to the highest bidder, but that all changed in the spring of 2004 when Bill Courtney, a former high school football coach turned lumber salesman, volunteered to lend a hand.

When he arrived, the team consisted of 17 players, some timeworn equipment and a patch of grass masquerading as a practice field.

Focusing more on winning young men than football games, the football program nevertheless began resurrecting itself and, in 2009, features the most talented team Manassas has ever fielded; a team that seems poised to end the playoff jinx that has plagued the school since time immemorial.

A coming-of-age documentary film, Undefeated provides audiences an intimate view of an underprivileged group of teens and their inspirational coach, as they attempt to make history.

SEAN COMBS JOINS THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY’S HUDDLE AS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF OSCAR®-NOMINATED DOCUMENTARY UNDEFEATED

SEAN COMBS JOINS THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY’S HUDDLE AS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF OSCAR®-NOMINATED DOCUMENTARY UNDEFEATED






The Weinstein Company (TWC) announced today that Grammy® Award-winning rapper/producer/actor/entrepreneur Sean Combs has signed on as an executive producer of the studio’s new documentary UNDEFEATED, which has been nominated for the 2012 Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature. Combs will also be an executive producer on TWC’s planned feature remake of UNDEFEATED.

Directed by Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin, UNDEFEATED is a coming-of-age vérité-style documentary centering on several young student-athletes and the volunteer coach who guides them through a rough, yet rewarding, football season in northern Memphis. It opens in limited release on February 17.

Combs has produced numerous projects over the years, including the award-winning A RAISIN IN THE SUN and NOTORIOUS, as well as the hit television shows “Making the Band” on MTV and “P. Diddy Presents the Bad Boys of Comedy” for HBO. He has been featured in a wide range of film projects, including the recent Judd Apatow-produced comedy GET HIM TO THE GREEK and will continue to make the transition from music to film projects this year.

“I am excited to partner with Harvey Weinstein on this incredible project. UNDEFEATED is a great American story with a lot of heart and soul. It had a profound effect on me and I couldn’t get it out of my mind when I saw it. There is so much truth and so much hope in this film, and I feel passionately that everyone who sees it will be inspired,” commented Combs.

Said Weinstein, “There’s a moment in UNDEFEATED when the coach tells the players, ‘Football doesn’t build character – football reveals character.’ I think that’s one of the reasons football is so important to me. But that line could just as easily apply to UNDEFEATED itself. In telling the story of a football team, this film says so much about individuals, about community and about our country. I’m so proud of UNDEFEATED, and we feel very fortunate to have Sean on board to bring this story to audiences now and in the future.”

SYNOPSIS – UNDEFEATED

Set against the backdrop of a high school football season, Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin’s documentary UNDEFEATED is an intimate chronicle of three underprivileged student-athletes from inner-city Memphis and the volunteer coach trying to help them beat the odds on and off the field. Founded in 1899, Manassas High School in North Memphis has never seen its football team, the Tigers, win a playoff game. In recent decades, the last-place Tigers had gone so far as to sell its regular season games to rival schools looking to chalk up an easy win. That began to change in 2004, when Bill Courtney, former high school football coach turned businessman, volunteered to lend a hand. Focusing on nurturing emotional as well as physical strength, Courtney has helped the Tigers find their footing and their confidence. The 2009 Summer/Fall football season promises to be the Tigers’ best ever – perhaps the season that finally breaks the 110 year-old playoff jinx. For players and coaches alike, the season will be not only about winning games – it will be about how they grapple with the unforeseeable events that are part of football and part of life.

ABOUT THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY

The Weinstein Company (TWC) is a multimedia production and distribution company launched in October 2005 by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, the brothers who founded Miramax Films in 1979. TWC also encompasses Dimension Films, the genre label founded in 1993 by Bob Weinstein, which has released such popular franchises as SCREAM, SPY KIDS and SCARY MOVIE. Together TWC and Dimension Films have released a broad range of mainstream, genre and specialty films that have been commercial and critical successes, including Tom Hooper’s THE KING’S SPEECH, winner of four 2011 Academy Awards®, including Best Picture. Since 2005, TWC and Dimension Films have released such film as GRINDHOUSE; I’M NOT THERE; THE GREAT DEBATERS; VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA; THE READER; THE ROAD; HALLOWEEN; THE PAT TILLMAN STORY; PIRANHA 3D; INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS; A SINGLE MAN; BLUE VALENTINE; THE COMPANY MEN; MIRAL; SCRE4M; OUR IDIOT BROTHER; and SARAH’S KEY. Currently in release are recent Golden Globe winners THE ARTIST, MY WEEK WITH MARILYN and THE IRON LADY. Upcoming releases include THE INTOUCHABLES and THE WETTEST COUNTY IN THE WORLD. Recently wrapped is COGAN’S TRADE.

TWC is also active in television production, with credits including the Emmy® Award-winning hit reality series “Project Runway,” the new VH1 reality series “Mob Wives,” and the critically acclaimed HBO comedy/crime series “The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.” The company has produced three “Project Runway” spinoffs, “Project Runway All Stars,” currently airing; “Project Accessory,” which debuted in 2011; and “Project Runway: Masters,” to debut in 2012. The company currently has 17 series in different stages of development, including: “Marco Polo,” a scripted historical series about the great explorer; “The Nanny Diaries,” based on the hit book; and “The Mad Ones,” adapted from the Mafia novel of the same name.

ABOUT SEAN COMBS

Sean Combs, the CEO and founder of Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment Group is a multifaceted entertainment powerhouse. Sean “Diddy” Combs was declared “One of the Most Influential Businessmen in the World” by Time Magazine and CNN. Combs, 42, oversees one of the world's preeminent urban entertainment companies, encompassing a broad range of businesses including recording, music publishing, artist management, television and film production, apparel, and fragrance.