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YORKTOWN, N.Y. Jeremy Newberger of Yorktown couldn't think of a location to premiere the documentary he and his two partners created for four years about controversial talk show host Morton Downey Jr. than at the Tribeca Film Festival.
"Evocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie" will be among the select films shown in Manhattan today at 6 p.m., as well as on April 21, 24 and 27.
"It's exciting. It's Robert DeNiro's film festival. We're excited to have our film in it," said Newberger, who makes up one-third of Garrison-based Ironbound Films with Daniel Miller of Cold Spring and Seth Kramer of Red Hook, N.Y.
"Our film is a look at this controversial figure who was brash with this New York moxy to him," Newberger added. "This will be a good testing ground for him."
Newberger, who has lived with his wife in Yorktown for nine years, said the 90-minute documentary on Downey, who rose to fame with his combative show in the 1980s in the New York/New Jersey area before it went national, is not meant to be a grandmother's cup of tea. (Downey died in 2001.)
"It's a very rock 'n' roll, in your face, maybe rated R at times. We tried to capture Downey's spirit," Newberger said. "I think we accomplished that. It's more of an experience where you're sort of climbing into his head and seeing the good and bad decisions he made. We wanted it to be a film that we would enjoy watching ourselves. This film is exactly how Dan, Seth and I wanted it to be. We're happy as punch about it."
Ironbound Films has already produced a few critically acclaimed productions. The documentaries "The Linguists," which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and "The New Recruits," which aired on PBS, were both nominated for Emmy Awards.
Newberger and his partners are hopeful the Tribeca Film Festival will be "a stepping stone" to have "Evocateur" distributed to a broad audience.
In the meantime, Newberger, who was an intern with Conan O'Brien on NBC and a producer for Don Imus at MSNBC, is looking forward to sharing his work with his inner circle of family and friends.
"Vans of family and friends will be trucking into Manhattan and probably a lot from Yorktown," he said. "My Yorktown peeps will represent."
More information on the film or film festival can be found on the Tribeca festival website or Ironbound Films website.
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