The Source Magazine was on the red carpet for the New York premiere of The Weinstein Company’s “12-12-12” on Friday, November 8, 2013. Alicia Keys and Kanye West perform in it and Jamie Foxx, P. Diddy and Chris Rock make cameos in the documentary.
Film Synopsis: On December 12, 2012, some of entertainment’s most iconic names came together at Madison Square Garden for a historic concert to benefit the victims of Hurricane Sandy. 12-12-12 captures the unprecedented gathering of talent who turned up on stage and behind the scenes to raise over $50 million in one night for the Robin Hood Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund to support organizations helping victims in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The evening’s Emmy Award-nominated telecast included performances by some of the music industry’s legendary acts: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Billy Joel, Alicia Keys, Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl, Roger Waters, Eddie Vedder, Chris Martin, Michael Stipe, Adam Sandler, Eric Clapton, Jon Bon Jovi, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Kanye West and included involvement from entertainment and media elite such as Billy Crystal, Susan Sarandon, Paul Shaffer, Brian Williams, Kristen Stewart, Jon Stewart, Chelsea Clinton, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, Sean Combs, Olivia Wilde, Steve Buscemi, Chris Rock, Seth Meyers, Jake Gyllenhaal, Blake Lively, Katie Holmes, Jason Sudekis, Jamie Foxx, Quentin Tarantino, and Christoph Waltz on this historic night.
Check out our exclusive interview with Amir Bar-Lev (Director of the film 12-12-12) from the red carpet:
How did you get involved in this project?
Meghan O’Hara hired me and we had ten days to prepare for it and that was how the whole thing happened everybody just sort of left their egos at the door and it was beautiful.
This is your first time co-directing a film what was it like joining forces with Charlie Lightening?
Well that was indicative of the spirit of the evening you know, initially we were doing two different films and then we kind of scratched our heads and said thats not smart and besides this is a charity film for the concert and so we decided to join forces that night. It was one of the coolest things that has happened to me in my professional life you know because there was an argument that transformed into a big hug in a production meeting.
How do you transform a concert of this magnitude into a documentary?
You do that with a great editing team and we had that. The lead editor is Ben Gold and he had a monumental task because we used twenty three cameras in a six hour concert and then there is extra footage so it was really a challenge.
With so much material did you feel you were obliged to leave some good stuff out?
No, no, we did not leave anything on the cutting room floor. I mean it’s a layer case this film. There is nothing that I had to tragically leave on the cutting floor, its all there.
What was it like working with Alicia Keys, Chris Rock, Kanye West?
Everybody in this concert and this film really gave up themselves, nobody acted like the big star, so I didn’t deal with them directly, but my team that I put together did and everybody was very accessible.
What was the biggest challenge of making this film?
For me the biggest challenge was cutting it down you know because the camera wants to be everywhere at once in a night like that.
So this is a music documentary, a charity documentary would you welcome this experience again and what other projects do you have lined up?
Sure, sure, I’m doing a Grateful Dead film hopefully next and I love music and I love music films.
We also spoke with Michael Moore, Director of “Bowling for Columbine” and “Farennheit 9/11”, on the red carpet.
What were your thoughts on last year’s concert relief and what are your thoughts about the documentary?
I’m looking forward to this actually more than the live concert because I won’t have to stand during the entire movie and nobody is going to stand up and block my view, so I’m looking forward to see it on a movie screen.
As a documentary filmmaker, why is it important to make these types of films?
Well you know people like non-fiction, they like non-fiction because they want to be told the truth and the truth is that a year later there still a lot of people suffering in this area so I hope that the movie will bring some attention on that.
We were actually backstage at the concert that night. You can check out our video from that evening.
12-12-12 opens in New York(Angelika Film Center) and Los Angeles Friday, November 15, 2013 with all proceeds from the box office going to the Robin Hood Sandy Relief Fund.
-Gaston Yvorra
