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Entries from September 2007
Break in at rakontur
September 15th, 2007 · No Comments
Assault-Weapon Attacks on Rise in Miami
September 15th, 2007 · No Comments
MIAMI (AP) - The spray of bullets that killed a police officer and hurt three others this week came from something increasingly common on this city’s streets: a high-powered assault weapon, fast becoming the gun of choice for gang members and violent criminals.
Federal officials don’t compile statistics on the number of crimes involving assault weapons like the AK-47, and municipalities’ numbers across the country are patchwork. But in Miami, at least, there are signs it is becoming a major problem.
“We’ve noticed an increase in the amount of assault weapons that we’ve seen on the street, and certainly the amount that have been used in murders and other shootings,” said Detective Delrish Moss. “And it seems to be increasing every year.”
The rising number of deaths by assault weapons reflects growing availability of the weapons and their elevation to a status symbol among gang members, said Carlos Baixauli, an agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
“In the early ’80s to ’90s, it was more common to have a handgun in your waistband and the bigger the caliber, the more powerful you were,” Baixauli said. “Now it’s escalated to the assault weapons.”
Another issue potentially at play is the 2004 expiration of the federal assault weapons ban, 10 years after its passage. The legislation outlawed 19 types of guns, including the semiautomatic AK-47.
The guns are readily available on streets, Baixauli said, or can be ordered by mail for under $200.
Tags: Miami
Raw Deal Featured News
September 13th, 2007 · No Comments
The Miami Herald - Old Case Could Haunt Office Seeker
“As he campaigns for governor, Rod Smith touts his successful prosecution of serial killer Danny Rolling, sentenced to die for the murders of five University of Florida students.
But the former state attorney’s handling of another high-profile campus case that is now resurfacing could play a critical role as he courts one of the Democratic Party’s most influential constituencies: female voters.”
St. Petersburg Times - Volatile ‘99 Case a test for candidate
“A dancer says she was raped at a frat party. A prosecutor decides not to pursue sex assault charges. Now he’s running for governor. Amid uproar, was Rod Smith right?”
Variety - Inside Movie: A Question of Control
“Sundance doc will finally see daylight”
Variety - Controversial ‘Deal’ invites heated debate
“Raw Deal: A Question of Consent,” from Miami-based filmmakers Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman, made quite an impression with Sundance Film Festival audiences in January.”
“Documentary on UF rape case could be big break for a pair of Miami filmmakers”
The Miami Herald - Buzz Surrounds Young Producers of ‘Raw Deal’
“In their cut-off shorts, baseball caps and rolled up sleeves, Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman look like the kids next door. Believe me, they’re not.”
The Guardian - A Question of Consent
“A documentary featuring explicit video footage of an alleged rape presented some interesting problems for Channel 4. Adam Barker and Prash Naik explain why they decided to run it.”
Der Spiegel - Verfuhrung oder Vergewaltigung
The Scotsman - Rough Grainy Justice
“Every film-maker wants to be noticed, touch a nerve, provoke a storm. Next week the Edinburgh Film Festival will host the British premiere of Raw Deal: A Question of Consent, which, since its unveiling early this year at Robert Redford’s Sundance Film Festival, has been doing just that. “
The Scotsman - A Shocking Example to us All
“Scenes of drunken sex at a college fraternity party. Video footage of an alleged rape. The graphic and controversial material used in Raw Deal: A Question of Consent could be viewed as pornographic. But according to Edinburgh International Film Festival director Lizzie Francke, context is the key.”
The Palm Beach Post - Documentary Explores UF Rape Allegation
“It’s an ugly but true story about alleged rape, layers of lies, fraternity debauchery.
It’s about half-truths, politics at its worst, secret pornographic videotapes, small-town sleaze, less than sympathetic characters and possible legal shenanigans. It asks sordid yet important questions. It would make a disturbing movie.
In fact, it is a disturbing movie.”
The New York Times - Raw Deal: A Question of Consent
“A highly graphic account of a sordid rape case involving an exotic dancer, Billy Corben’s independent video production concerns what many considered to be an act of brutality on a college campus.”
Raw Deal Featured Festival Articles
September 13th, 2007 · No Comments
New York Post - Rape, Lies, and Videotapes
“Victim relives horror caught live on frathouse film”
New York Post - “Raw Deal” Furor Prompts Bidding Frenzy
“A bidding war erupted yesterday at the Sundance Film Festival as studios scrambled to buy a documentary containing shocking footage of frat-house sex, including an alleged rape. ”
LA Times - Sex Case Documentary Sirring Up Audiences
“Explicitness of footage shot during campus incident has angered some moviegoers.”
Entertainment Weekly - Sundance Film Festival Recap
“It’s the ultra-explicit reality show you’ll never see on TV - a shockumentary that forever shatters the boundaries of what a theatrical feature can, should, and will depict.”
“Once Raw Deal played Sundance, the New York Post splashed it all over its front page…”
Financial Times - Day 3 Raw Deal
“No film festival is complete without controversy.”
The Scotsman - City Hosts UK’s First Showing of ‘Rape’ Film
“A controversial documentary including footage of an alleged rape is set to have what could be its only British showing at the Film Festival from tonight.”
St. Petersburg Times - The Surreal Whirl that is Sundance
“Alfred Spellman’s and Billy Corben’s documentary Raw Deal: A Question of Consent arrived at the festival on a whirlwind of controversy and left with a distribution deal.”
St. Petersburg Times - FIlm Documents Controversial UF Fraternity Party
“Two Miami filmmakers are making waves at a prestigious film festival with a documentary based on a 1999 incident at a University of Florida fraternity house.”
Orlando Weekly - “No” Means “Go”
“The Florida Film Festival encountered unexpected controversy Tuesday, when a legal representative of Artisan Entertainment allegedly faxed festival staffers a 23-page “cease and desist” order mandating that they not screen the documentary Raw Deal: A Question of Consent, which was scheduled to be shown that night at the Colonial Promenade.”
Orlando Sentinel - Dispute Nearly Stops Edgy Film
“The show did go on Tuesday night at the 11th annual Florida Film Festival. But it almost didn’t. Because of a dispute between the filmmakers and the company that claims North American distribution rights, Raw Deal: A Question of Consent was nearly pulled from the festival program at the Colonial Promenade 6. “
The Hot Button - “One of the Most Important Documentaries in at Least a Decade”
“Raw Deal: A Question of Consent is everything the buzz says it is and more.”
City Beat - Five of the best films from Sundance 2001 are coming to a theater near you
City Beat - Party on Dude!
“Can’t Buy Me Buzz. The headline of the Jan. 25 New York Post says it all: “Rape, Lies and Videotape — Victim relives horror caught live on frat house tape.” With that one story, Raw Deal: A Question of Consent, a documentary about an accused rape at the University of Florida, has become the official “buzz” film of Sundance 2001.”
Raw Deal Featured Reviews
September 13th, 2007 · 1 Comment
“One of the most compelling pieces of non-fiction ever produced.”
“Disturbing, utterly absorbing”
“One of the most powerful docs I’ve ever seen.”
Glasgow Herald
“This is a striking fear that offers no easy answers.”
Orlando Weekly
“A politically and emotionally charged documentary.”
“A harrowing and unnerving experience.”
“A remarkable documentary.”
Tags: Press · Raw Deal · Reviews
Cocaine Cowboys Featured Articles
September 12th, 2007 · No Comments
“Now that Tony Montana is on pajamas, it’s time to let his fairytale sleep. Rakontur’s documentaries deliver Florida’s raw, rugged and rich to your home. For real.”
Loaded - Meet the Worlds Most Evil Woman
“Guns. Drugs. Violent death. loaded looks at Cocaine Cowboys, the new film about the men - and one violent lady - behind the drugs war that inspired Scarface. “
GQ (UK) - High Society
“The rise and fall of the worlds cocaine capital, Miami, on film. ”
Total Film UK - What it’s like to make a Coke Movie
“Cocaine Cowboys‘ Billy Corben talks Guns’n'Gak… ”
Empire Magazine (UK) - Invasion USA
“Chainsaw murders. Colombian hitmen. Bent cops. If you thought Scarface was pure fiction, prepare for Cocaine Cowboys, the shocking real story behind Miami’s drug wars.”
AP - “Film on Miami drug trade is a bootleg hit even before release”
“Between bootleg DVDs and strong word-of-mouth, “Cocaine Cowboys” - named for a term made popular by the media in the ’70s and ’80s - had already become an underground hit in Miami before its theatrical release Friday.”
“A look back at Miami’s vices: drugs, cash, killings…”"
Ocean Drive Magazine - Miami’s Vice Decade
“Local filmmakers Alfred Spellman and Billy Corben investigate South Florida’s glamorous and violent ’80s in their documentary Cocaine Cowboys“
“Rewind/Fast Forward Film & Video Festival showcases ‘Cocaine Cowboys’, a documentary about the real-life inspiration behind ‘Miami Vice’”
Miami New Times - Big Story, Big Screen
“Two documentary filmmakers capture a time and place in Cocaine Cowboys.”
Miami New Times - Confessions of a Trafficker
“Jon Roberts was a big-time Miami coke dealer who did time in the big house.”
“While the hyper pace of Cocaine Cowboys is obviously meant to emulate the feeling of being on coke, for anyone who’s met Corben and Spellman, one wonders if it’s just a case of method filmmaking. These guys think fast and talk even faster—think Sean Penn in Carlito’s Way.”
“Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman document Florida’s seedy underbelly.”
Tags: Cocaine Cowboys · Press · rakontur
Cocaine Cowboys Featured Reviews
September 11th, 2007 · No Comments
“If you needed further proof that the documentaries currently coming out of America are better than the films being produced by Hollywood, look no further.”
“Not only does the film bristle with Scarface-esque machismo, violence and comeuppance, but it is intelligently and cogently presented as well.”
“A rogues gallery of flamboyant gangsters paint an anecdote-rich portrait of the drug trade”
“You know nothing about the M-I-Yayo until you’ve seen Cocaine Cowboys.”
“Fast paced and more addictive than a cocaine/crack/meth cocktail.”
“genuinely engrossing — and horrifying”
“Billy Corben’s often hilarious, exuberant documentary practically celebrates the bloodbath that was Miami’s cocaine heyday”
“ As sensational as “Scarface” and a lot livelier than that “Miami Vice” movie”
“Bullets fly and dead bodies drop like whacked weeds in this startling documentary about the bad old days of the Miami drug trade. “
“it packs the furious momentum and dramatic punch of a riveting feature film”
“a well-researched documentary charting the scary real-life crimes that made living in miami a nightmare”
“ A hyperventilating account of the blood-drenched Miami drug culture in the 1970’s and 80’s, the movie overflows with cops and coroners, snitches and smugglers, reporters and importers.”
“Move over Miami Vice and Scarface — this is how it really happened.”“Move over Miami Vice and Scarface — this is how it really happened.”
“Cocaine Cowboys is kinetic and absorbing, the documentary equivalent of Goodfellas”
Worcester Movies
“All you street entrepreneurs take notes — this is a classic.”
“Miami’s New Jack City”
The Washington Post
“It pounds, it churns, it go-fast boats…”
Tags: Cocaine Cowboys · Press · Reviews
St. Petersburg Times - The surreal whirl that is Sundance
September 7th, 2007 · No Comments
The surreal whirl that is Sundance
The parties, the poseurs, the iconoclasts,
the poultry - the Sundance Film Festival
has come of age as a festival where
miracles dance cheek-to-cheek with absurdity.
By JESSICA HUNDLEY
Most pre-festival notoriety
Alfred Spellman’s and Billy Corben’s documentary Raw Deal: A Question of Consent arrived at the festival on a whirlwind of controversy and left with a distribution deal.
Exploring the case of a wild University of Florida fraternity party that led to rape accusations, Raw Deal included portions of a video made at the party. Protests of that creative strategy by the Gainesville chapter of the National Organization for Women brought more attention to the footage.
So Sundance welcomed the chance to show the film, NOW simmered on the sidelines and two 22-year-old filmmakers — both students at the University of Miami — strutted straight into the spotlight.
Reactions were mixed. One audience member snidely referred to it as “the first press screening of the Bush administration.” However, the film was purchased for distribution by Artisan Entertainment, whose previous Sundance acquisitions included the enormously successful The Blair Witch Project.
Raw Deal Review - Orlando Weekly
September 7th, 2007 · No Comments
Raw Deal: A Question of Consent
Directed by Billy Corben
The sexually correct “no-means-no” ideology of contemporary dating takes on new meaning in Miami producers Alfred Spellman and Billy Corben’s politically and emotionally charged documentary, “Raw Deal: A Question of Consent.” The film explores a sordid night in February, 1999, when a group of Delta Chi frat boys at the University of Florida hired a pair of strippers for an alcohol-soaked after-pledge party. The next morning, Lisa Gier King ran from the frat house, alleging she had been raped. When police investigated, they found that the party boys had videotaped the evening’s “revelries.” The tape led to King’s arrest for making a false accusation. The result: a massive media outcry from victims and feminist advocates.
The extreme nature of what happened at the frat house that night makes the story difficult to tell. Director Corben edits the interview footage with finesse. When we are finally shown the contents of the “rape sequence” at length, it is not easy to watch. Rarely has sex looked so ugly.
The genuine creepiness of accused attacker Michael Yahraus, the way in which the Alachua County State Attorney’s office refused to cooperate with the filmmakers, the sliminess of Delta Chi pledge master Anthony Marzullo, and King’s wide-eyed insistence that she had been victimized all slant viewer sympathies in her direction. But should they?
This is a film that winds up chronicling the netherworld between consensual sex and rape. Perhaps unconsciously, “Raw Deal” plants the idea that our society might need another word for a physical act between two adults that isn’t quite rape but isn’t quite consenting sex either. And, for that, “Raw Deal” offers up a redeeming value.
Tags: Press · Raw Deal · Reviews
