He came to L.A. with two ideas.
"Mike Wallace Is Here" and
"No One Saw a Thing"
AVI BELKIN.
October 15, 2019.
30 Minutes
Episode 41, Avi Belkin. To say that I have been lax in keeping up with these show notes, would be a gross understatement. I just posted episode #41 and am still amazed by what I learned from director Avi Belkin. This young man came to America from Israel three years ago with two ideas in his head. He wanted to make a documentary about the status of broadcast journalism and he knew about a murder in a small town called Skidmore in Missouri. It's still not completely clear how he did it. But with the help of a couple of producers, he ended up producing and directing two really terrific films. "Mike Wallace is Here" is a razor-sharp biography about the former "60 Minutes" correspondent that is in theatrical distribution with Magnolia Pictures and will eventually air on Hulu. If you are not of a certain age, you probably didn't know that Wallace had a long career as a commercial pitch-man, game show host and an actor before joining CBS News. Turns out he was just as human as all of us as we learn about his severe depression and his regrets about putting his career before his family. "No One Saw a Thing" is another doc, but it feels like a dramatic feature film that runs over multiple episodes on Sundance TV. It's about the town bully and how 60 people witnessed his murder but no one saw a thing. Great films from a new rising director, Avi Belkin. (The film is available now on Hulu.)
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