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American: The Bill Hicks Story

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American: The Bill Hicks Story
Film poster
Directed byMatt Harlock
Paul Thomas
Produced byMatt Harlock
Paul Thomas
Edited byMatt Harlock
Paul Thomas
Music byMark Daniels
Production
company
Distributed byVariance Films
Release dates
  • 23 October 2009 (2009-10-23) (London)
  • 14 May 2010 (2010-05-14) (United Kingdom)
Running time
102 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

American: The Bill Hicks Story is a 2009 biographical documentary film on the life of comedian Bill Hicks. The film was produced by Matt Harlock and Paul Thomas, and features archival footage and interviews with family and friends, including Kevin Booth.

The filmmakers used a cut-and-paste animation technique to add movement to a large collection of still pictures used to document events in Hicks' life.

Release

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The film made its North American premiere at the 2010 South by Southwest Film Festival.[1]

Reception

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Critical response

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On Rotten Tomatoes, 82% of the 55 reviews were rated positive. The critical consensus was: "A treasure trove of archival material and interviews, American: The Bill Hicks Story is an exuberant celebration about a unique, sorely missed voice in comedy."[2]

Accolades

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American was nominated for a 2010 Grierson British Documentary Award for the "Most Entertaining Documentary" category.[3] It was also nominated for Best Graphics and Animation category in the 2011 Cinema Eye Awards. Awards won include The Dallas Film Festivals Texas Filmmaker Award, at Little Rock The Oxford American's Best Southern Film Award, at Biografilm, Bologna, Italy The Lancia Award and Best Documentary at the Downtown LA Film Festival.

References

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  1. ^ "SXSW: First Look at American: The Bill Hicks Story", Lewis Wallace, Wired Magazine, 12 March 2010
  2. ^ "American: The Bill Hicks Story". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
  3. ^ Grierson 2010: The British Documentary Awards Shortlist Archived 5 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine
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