An award-winning independent production company based in New York. Their films play in festivals, theaters and on major networks the world over.
Their commercial arm, The Means of Production, produces marketing campaigns for everything from neighborhoods to rock bands.
The
PRESS
and the
PUBLIC PROJECT
& THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION
AVAILABLE NOW
FOUR DIED TRYING
FILM ZERO: PROLOGUE
This documentary series revisits four assassinations of the 1960s that set America on a deadly course, from which it has not yet diverged. Presenting revelatory new evidence and exclusive interviews with witnesses, scholars, and the families of these slain leaders, Four Died Trying tells the story of a fateful turning point in American history.
COMING SOON
THE RESPONDERS
BREAKING THE SILENCE
This documentary series revisits four assassinations of the 1960s that set America on a deadly course, from which it has not yet diverged. Presenting revelatory new evidence and exclusive interviews with witnesses, scholars, and the families of these slain leaders, Four Died Trying tells the story of a fateful turning point in American history.
presents
THE AMERICAN RULING CLASS
A co-production of the BBC and the Sundance Channel, The American Ruling Class was a featured selection and award-winner in festivals from Tribeca to Amsterdam. Starring the inestimable Lewis Lapham (Editor, Harpers Weekly, Founder Lapham's Quarterly) and tracing the trajectories of two near-fictional Ivy League graduates, The American Ruling Class considers the age-old question faced by generations of the privileged: is it better to rule the world, or save it?
IN PRODUCTION
STROKE OF GENIUS
SCOFIELD THAYER: THE MAN WHO MADE AMERICA MODERN
Slandered by Ernest Hemingway.
Psychoanalyzed by Sigmund Freud.
Cuckolded by e.e. cummings.
In 1920, armed only with his obscure magazine, The Dial, one man set the cultural agenda for a generation.
Join Lewis Lapham (Harper's Magazine, Lapham's Quarterly) on a mixed-media tour of the brilliant, tormented mind of Scofield Thayer.
FOUR DIED TRYING
Film 2: DRUMS ALONG THE POTOMAC
TRUMP
WHAT'S THE DEAL?
In 1991 we made a film about Donal Trump.
He managed to scare the networks away from airing it.
Now he's the President of the United States.
Beginning during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Press and the Public Project conducted a series of interviews with leading voices in medicine, journalism and activism, to discuss both the medical and sociopolitical dimensions of the outbreak.
CAPE SPIN!
AN AMERICAN POWER STRUGGLE
Cape Spin! An American Power Struggle tells the surreal, fascinating, tragicomic story of the battle over America's most scandalous clean energy project. Cape Wind would be the U.S.'s first offshore windfarm... But strange alliances formed for and against: Kennedys, Kochs and everyday folks do battle with the developer and green groups over the future of American power. With full access to both sides, a commitment to impartial storytelling and fueled by a satiric 'revolutionary' soundtrack, Cape Spin! is "a gripping and entertaining study of eco-capitalism and grassroots democracy", a "rollicking..dizzying look into the deceptive world of political activism".
Available for purchase or rental:
OUR STORY
JOHN KIRBY
Director, Editor
Director John Kirby‘s feature debut was The American Ruling Class, a “dramatic-documentary-musical” starring Lewis Lapham. That film played in theaters and won prizes in festivals all over the world. It was dubbed “Astonishing” by The London Observer, “Divine madness” by The Montreal Mirror, it “K.O.’d” Studs Terkel, and was hailed by luminaries from Bill Moyers to Peter Wintonick, who called it “the most cinematically subversive film to come along this decade.”
John has directed, edited and consulted on dozens of documentaries and non-fiction series. He Co-Directed Cape Spin! An American Power Struggle. His editorial credits include the Emmy-winning Thug Life in D.C. and Gladiator Days: Anatomy of a Prison Murder, a long-playing cult classic, both for HBO. In addition, he writes essays and songs, the latter of which have been performed at BAM Cafe and the Barclay's Center among other venues.
LIBBY HANDROS
Producer
Producer Libby Handros began her career over twenty-five years ago at The Press and the Public Project, joining the team that produced the ground-breaking Inside Story, the first regularly scheduled examination of the American press ever to appear on television. That nationally broadcast series aired weekly on PBS for five years and won every major television journalism award.
Handros has gone on to develop and produce over one hundred hours of prime-time programming on a wide array of subjects— public policy, news, sports, history, international affairs, education, and the movies. Her film with Kirby, Cape Spin: An American Power Struggle, played theatrically from Lincoln Center to The Brattle and was dubbed “Rollicking” by The Phoenix and “Sober, lighthearted, even wacky” by the Associated Press.