rakontur — 25 Years of Nonfiction Storytelling

"I don't miss a movie by Billy Corben, the great Florida filmmaker behind "Screwball," "Men of War," and the hit "Cocaine Cowboys" series. He's a creative, brilliant filmmaker who is clearly attracted to larger-than-life personalities, people whose flaws, and often their mishandling of mistakes, led to their downfall."

"Sweet baby Jesus, this is one hell of a documentary… The skilled and versatile veteran director Billy Corben has consistently mined his home state for fast-paced, visually "popping" films that often play like non-fiction versions of Scorsese's work."

"A non-fiction crime film with more than enough elements to make for an epic feature by a Scorsese or a Tarantino. Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami is one of the best true crime documentary series in recent years."

"Billy Corben, along with his producing partner Alfred Spellman, have documented 'Florida f*ckery' throughout 13 documentaries, all of which to varying degrees posit that South Florida is both a metaphor and a cautionary tale for America at large. Along the way they've essentially become the Mark Twains of insane Floridiana."

"The strength of Corben-Spellman films is their ability to mine all the ridiculousness that make Florida stories so irresistible for the rest of us, while also making the case that we should be paying attention to them as more than mere diversion. Florida at large, and Miami specifically, is so often the Ghost of America Future, rasping cryptic warnings about cronyism and demagoguery through garish fake tan and tacky dye job in a WWE-style spectacle."

"I'm not sure the filmmakers set out to make a baseball movie that explains America—but they did…. The Florida-born Corben and producer Alfred Spellman were behind 'Cocaine Cowboys,' the 2006 documentary about the Miami drug trade in the 70s and 80s, and as in that film, 'Screwball' has an undercurrent of love for the Sunshine State's rich tradition of start-over hustlers and 'gray market' economies."

"The U drew the most viewers ever for a documentary on ESPN. Director Billy Corben's look back at the heyday of the U. of Miami football program drew a record-setting 2.3 million viewers."

"One of the most compelling pieces of non-fiction ever produced… one of the most controversial films of the modern day."

"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."