Ron Davis (filmmaker)

Ron Davis
Nationality American
Alma mater Syracuse University and the New York Film Academy
Occupation Documentary director, writer, and producer
Known for Founding Docutainment Films
Website Docutainment Films

Ron Davis is an American documentary film director, writer and producer. He is the founder of Docutainment Films.

Early life and career

Davis was born and raised in New Jersey, and was a junior equestrian as a youth. He attended Syracuse University and worked in the publishing industry out of college. Companies he worked for include Harper Collins and Simon & Schuster. Davis eventually became vice president at Sterling Publishing (a wholly owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble), at which point he began taking evening classes from the New York Film Academy. While there he produced and directed two short films: The Business Traveler and The Garden, which earned him a top ten finish in the 2004 Esquire Magazine Celluloid Style film competition. Davis eventually founded Docutainment Films in Wellington, Florida to produce his documentaries.[1][2]

Pageant

Main article: Pageant (film)

In 2008 Davis released his directorial debut Pageant, which featured the 2005 Miss Gay America female impersonator pageant. He co-wrote, co-produced and co-directed the feature-length documentary that followed five drag queens as they competed for the title. During its showings at film festivals the movie became "critically acclaimed", and was awarded festival prizes.[3][4][5] Pageant received its television broadcast debut on the Sundance Channel after winning a total of ten awards from film festivals.[6] Davis became a full-time documentary maker in 2010, two years after the release of Pageant.[1][7]

Miss You Can Do It

In 2013, Davis released his second directorial effort Miss You Can Do It, an original HBO documentary. The film featured Abbey Curran, who became Miss Iowa USA in 2008 and the first woman with a disability to compete in the Miss USA Pageant. Miss You Can Do It follows Curran as well as eight young women from around the US with special needs as they participate in the 2008 Miss You Can Do It Pageant in Kewanee, Illinois. The film debuted at the Palm Beach International Film Festival Friday on April 5, 2013 and received its first television broadcast in June 2013.[8]

Harry & Snowman

In 2015, Davis premiered his third feature documentary, HARRY & SNOWMAN, at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.[9] Snowman was an old Amish plow horse that Dutch immigrant Harry deLeyer rescued off a truck that was bound for the meat and glue factory for only $80. Less than two years after he rescued Snowman, they rose to become the national show jumping champions and were the Cinderella story and media darlings of late 1950's and 1960's.[10]

The film won ten film festival awards, including the 2015 Nantucket Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary.,[11] the Woods Hole Film Festival, Best of the Fest Audience Award, the New Orleans Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary [12] and the Prescott Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary.,[13] Harry & Snowman was released theatrically on September 30, 2016 by FilmRise.[14] and went on to become one of the top grossing theatrical documentaries of 2016.[15] The film was a NYT Critics' Pick [14] and the Los Angeles Times praised the film as "captivating".[16]

References

  1. 1 2 Janis Fontaine (March 31, 2013). "Wellington filmmaker's work in Palm Beach International Film Festival". Palm Beach Post. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
  2. ↑ "HBO airs 'Miss You Can Do It' documentary". Star Courier. June 26, 2013. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
  3. ↑ Jeff Theodore (November 7, 2008). "'Pageant' crowns Jersey City film fest". NJ.com. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
  4. ↑ Nathan Lee (December 26, 2008). "There She Is, Miss ... Well, Actually, It's Mr.". New York Times. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
  5. ↑ Gary Kramer (October 22, 2009). "Miss Gay America Lives on Film". San Francisco Bay Times. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Pageant". Sundance Channel. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
  7. ↑ ML Elrick (July 23, 2009). "Sergei Fedorov: Financial adviser swiped $43M". USA Today. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Carroll girl featured in documentary". Daily Times Herald. June 21, 2013. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
  9. ↑ http://www.heraldsun.com/news/showcase/x926852136/FULL-FRAME-A-man-a-horse-Harry-Snowman
  10. ↑ http://www.indiewire.com/film/harry-snowman
  11. ↑ http://variety.com/2015/film/news/nantucket-film-festival-names-2015-award-winners-1201530145/
  12. ↑ http://www.capenews.net/arts_and_entertainment/woods-hole-film-festival-winners-announced/article_18691aec-3c45-11e5-b2b9-372ac4c09065.html
  13. ↑ http://prescottfilmfestival.com/2015-awards/
  14. 1 2 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/30/movies/harry-snowman-review.html?_r=0
  15. ↑ http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Harry-and-Snowman#tab=summary
  16. ↑ http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-capsule-harry-snowman-review-20160927-snap-story.html
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