Over the weekend at the Middleburg Film Festival, Tim Fehlbaum’s September 5 won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature. The film takes us inside the ABC Sports newsroom during the controversial 1972 Munich Summer Olympics and the hostage crisis. Reviews have been very positive on the festival circuit, and now we get to see what all of the buzz is about with a new trailer released by Paramount Pictures.
September 5 stars Peter Sarsgaard as ABC Sports chief Roone Arledge, with John Magaro as producer Geoff Mason, both possible awards contenders for their performances. Also in the cast are Ben Chaplin, Leonie Benesch, Zinedine Soualem, Corey Johnson, Georgina Rich, and Benjamin Walker.
SYNOPSIS: “September 5” unveils the decisive moment that forever changed media coverage and continues to impact live news today. Set during the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics, the film follows an American Sports broadcasting team that quickly adapted from sports reporting to live coverage of the Israeli athletes taken hostage. Through this lens, “September 5” provides a fresh perspective on the live broadcast seen globally by an estimated one billion people at the time. At the heart of the story is Geoff (John Magaro), a young and ambitious producer striving to prove himself to his boss, the legendary TV executive Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard). Together with German interpreter Marianne (Leonie Benesch) and his mentor Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin), Geoff unexpectedly takes the helm of the live coverage. As narratives shift, time ticks away, and conflicting rumors spread, with the hostages’ lives hanging in the balance, Geoff grapples with tough decisions while confronting his own moral compass.
Magaro was in attendance at Middleburg and I had a number of conversations about the film. He went a long way in getting me excited to see it, and hopefully I can bring an interview with him to you soon.
September 5 opens in select theaters on November 29th followed by a national rollout on December 13th.
