Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Nov. 19, 2013
Price: DVD $29.95
Studio: Music Box
Brandon Darby (l.) working with Common Ground Collective, as seen in Informant.
The 2012 documentary Informant presents a portrait of Brandon Darby, a left-wing activist turned FBI informant and then Tea Party conservative whose actions led to the arrest of two protesters at the 2008 Republican National Convention.
In 2005, Texas-born Brandon Darby became an overnight hero when he traveled to Katrina-devastated New Orleans and braved toxic floodwaters to rescue a friend stranded in the Ninth Ward. Soon after, he became a co-founder and spokesperson for Common Ground, a successful grassroots relief organization. But over the next few years, he began hiding a shocking secret. After two young protestors, David McKay and Bradley Crowder, were arrested at the 2008 Republican National Convention, Darby revealed he had been instrumental in the indictment as an FBI informant. Today, having renounced his Left-wing past, Darby is a...
Price: DVD $29.95
Studio: Music Box
Brandon Darby (l.) working with Common Ground Collective, as seen in Informant.
The 2012 documentary Informant presents a portrait of Brandon Darby, a left-wing activist turned FBI informant and then Tea Party conservative whose actions led to the arrest of two protesters at the 2008 Republican National Convention.
In 2005, Texas-born Brandon Darby became an overnight hero when he traveled to Katrina-devastated New Orleans and braved toxic floodwaters to rescue a friend stranded in the Ninth Ward. Soon after, he became a co-founder and spokesperson for Common Ground, a successful grassroots relief organization. But over the next few years, he began hiding a shocking secret. After two young protestors, David McKay and Bradley Crowder, were arrested at the 2008 Republican National Convention, Darby revealed he had been instrumental in the indictment as an FBI informant. Today, having renounced his Left-wing past, Darby is a...
- 10/14/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
The Alliance of Women Film Journalists (Awfj), a membership organization of leading women film journalists and critics from across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, announced seven nominees for a special Eda award, created to celebrate Pov’s 25th anniversary. The winner will be announced at Pov’s 26th-season launch party at its headquarters in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Thursday, June 6, 2013.
With this Eda award, the Awfj will honor the best female-directed film from the curated program MoMA Selects: Pov, a 25th Anniversary Retrospective, presented at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in February and March of 2013. A jury of five Awfj members selected the nominees.
The nominees are Better This World (directors: Kelly Duane de la Vega, Katie Galloway), Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter(director: Deborah Hoffmann), Dark Circle (directors: Judy Irving, Christopher Beaver), The Education of Shelby Knox (directors:Marion Lipschutz, Rose Rosenblatt), Granito:...
With this Eda award, the Awfj will honor the best female-directed film from the curated program MoMA Selects: Pov, a 25th Anniversary Retrospective, presented at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in February and March of 2013. A jury of five Awfj members selected the nominees.
The nominees are Better This World (directors: Kelly Duane de la Vega, Katie Galloway), Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter(director: Deborah Hoffmann), Dark Circle (directors: Judy Irving, Christopher Beaver), The Education of Shelby Knox (directors:Marion Lipschutz, Rose Rosenblatt), Granito:...
- 5/30/2013
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
After Better This World (which was one of my favorite documentaries of 2011), I admittedly questioned whether or not the world would need another documentary about Brandon Darby and the "Texas Two" -- David McKay and Bradley Crowder. Luckily Jamie Meltzer's Informant takes a different approach from what had already been done before in Better This World. While both films bring to question Darby's precarious role as an FBI informant, Meltzer's documentary opts to focus primarily on Darby, allowing him ample opportunity to spew his side of the story. From most accounts an ego-maniacal jerk, it is no surprise that Darby seems to enjoy having his time in the spotlight. It is impossible to tell if Darby has even considered whether or not he should trust Meltzer; if anything, Darby is so damn confident in his side of the story that he probably assumes that everyone will agree that he was right in his actions.
- 11/8/2012
- by Don Simpson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
Informant, a thrilling documentary from Jamie Meltzer, tells the story of Austinite Brandon Darby, the former anarchist who turned in Brad Crowder and David McKay during the Rnc protests in 2008. How did Darby morph from someone who "would've attacked the government for what it was doing to people" in New Orleans during Katrina to someone who trusted governmental authority so much that he would inform on a planned/possible attack? Meltzer's film, through intimate interviews (almost like on-camera confessions) with Darby and some of his former associates, attempts to explain.
The movie introduces the viewer to Darby through his work with other activists co-founding the Common Ground Collective in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. He comes off as determined in his work to serve the people in the Ninth Ward. He and his pal Scott Crow (also an Austinite) brought guns to the city to combat the violence against "looters.
The movie introduces the viewer to Darby through his work with other activists co-founding the Common Ground Collective in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. He comes off as determined in his work to serve the people in the Ninth Ward. He and his pal Scott Crow (also an Austinite) brought guns to the city to combat the violence against "looters.
- 10/22/2012
- by Elizabeth Stoddard
- Slackerwood
Here's the latest Austin film news, plus some upcoming event information.
A free public screening of the award-winning documentary Better This World will take place at 6 pm tonight (Monday, April 23) in room 8500 on the Acc Eastview Campus. The Acc Rtf Department will present the film, discussion and Q&A with two of the film's subjects, Bradley Crowder and David McKay (although they will not/cannot be in the room at the same time). Better This World is about two childhood friends from Midland who were arrested on terrorism charges at the 2008 Republican National Convention. Read Don's review from SXSW 2011.Dallas International Film Festivalannounced the fest's 2012 award winners at the annual Dallas Film Society Honors gala on Friday. San Antonio filmmaker Ya'Ke Smith's feature film Wolf (Mike's review), about a family trying to come to terms with the abuse their pastor has inflicted on their teenage son, received a $30,000 camera...
A free public screening of the award-winning documentary Better This World will take place at 6 pm tonight (Monday, April 23) in room 8500 on the Acc Eastview Campus. The Acc Rtf Department will present the film, discussion and Q&A with two of the film's subjects, Bradley Crowder and David McKay (although they will not/cannot be in the room at the same time). Better This World is about two childhood friends from Midland who were arrested on terrorism charges at the 2008 Republican National Convention. Read Don's review from SXSW 2011.Dallas International Film Festivalannounced the fest's 2012 award winners at the annual Dallas Film Society Honors gala on Friday. San Antonio filmmaker Ya'Ke Smith's feature film Wolf (Mike's review), about a family trying to come to terms with the abuse their pastor has inflicted on their teenage son, received a $30,000 camera...
- 4/23/2012
- by Jordan Gass-Poore'
- Slackerwood
Normally we focus on Austin theaters for Movies This Week, but we're more than willing to go a little north of town to Pflugerville for Cinemark's Best Shorts Festival 2012, for three screenings only up at Tinseltown 20. On Monday, the Texas Film Hall of Fame presents No Country for Old Men at Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar -- the cast includes Barry Corbin, who will be honored at the award ceremony next month.
Wednesday you have three (count 'em!) very different cinematic experiences to choose from. Cine Las Americas is hosting a benefit sneak preview of Oscar-nominated Chico & Rita, a contender for Best Animated Feature, at the Metropolitan. Afs Best of the Fests screens SXSW 2011 selection Better This World at Alamo Village with special guests David McKay and Bradley Crowder, the two young men from Midland, Texas who were arrested on terrorism charges at the 2008 Republican National Convention. And the Paramount...
Wednesday you have three (count 'em!) very different cinematic experiences to choose from. Cine Las Americas is hosting a benefit sneak preview of Oscar-nominated Chico & Rita, a contender for Best Animated Feature, at the Metropolitan. Afs Best of the Fests screens SXSW 2011 selection Better This World at Alamo Village with special guests David McKay and Bradley Crowder, the two young men from Midland, Texas who were arrested on terrorism charges at the 2008 Republican National Convention. And the Paramount...
- 2/24/2012
- by Jenn Brown
- Slackerwood
Originally posted as part of our 2011 SXSW coverage, Better This World is nominated for Best Documentary.
Screening Times: Saturday March 12th, 11:00am (Vimeo Theater), Monday March 14th, 1:45pm (Alamo Lamar B), Friday March 18th, 2:00pm (Paramount Theatre)
Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane De La Vega profile the young political radicals David McKay and Bradley Crowder in Better This World. The pair plotted to disrupt the 2008 Republic National Convention, but found themselves charged with domestic terrorism.
Filmmaker: How did you first hear of David McKay and Bradley Crowder? What drove you to make a film about them?
De La Vega: In early January 2009 we read a New York Times article about two young men from Midland, Texas, who were arrested on domestic terrorism charges at the 2008 Rnc. The story described their involvement with a controversial FBI informant who was the government’s star witness in the case. We...
Screening Times: Saturday March 12th, 11:00am (Vimeo Theater), Monday March 14th, 1:45pm (Alamo Lamar B), Friday March 18th, 2:00pm (Paramount Theatre)
Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane De La Vega profile the young political radicals David McKay and Bradley Crowder in Better This World. The pair plotted to disrupt the 2008 Republic National Convention, but found themselves charged with domestic terrorism.
Filmmaker: How did you first hear of David McKay and Bradley Crowder? What drove you to make a film about them?
De La Vega: In early January 2009 we read a New York Times article about two young men from Midland, Texas, who were arrested on domestic terrorism charges at the 2008 Rnc. The story described their involvement with a controversial FBI informant who was the government’s star witness in the case. We...
- 10/31/2011
- by Brandon Harris
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Better this World
Directed by Kelly Duane de la Vega and Katie Galloway
If Michael Moore had made Better this World we’d probably know Sarah Palin’s recipe for mixing the perfect Molotov cocktail – Alaskan style. But this sobering documentary is the work of Kelly Duane de la Vega and Katie Galloway and was first shown on PBS last month. It’s the story of two budding political activists who fell foul of an agent provocateur and America’s unforgiving political climate.
David McKay from Midland, Texas (home town of George and Laura Bush) and his childhood friend Bradley Crowder were just two ordinary guys who wanted to protest about the state of the nation. As the alarming prospect of a McCain/Palin Presidency loomed, McKay and Crowder went to the Republican National Convention in August 2008 and ended up in a heap of trouble.
The pair arrived in Saint Paul,...
Directed by Kelly Duane de la Vega and Katie Galloway
If Michael Moore had made Better this World we’d probably know Sarah Palin’s recipe for mixing the perfect Molotov cocktail – Alaskan style. But this sobering documentary is the work of Kelly Duane de la Vega and Katie Galloway and was first shown on PBS last month. It’s the story of two budding political activists who fell foul of an agent provocateur and America’s unforgiving political climate.
David McKay from Midland, Texas (home town of George and Laura Bush) and his childhood friend Bradley Crowder were just two ordinary guys who wanted to protest about the state of the nation. As the alarming prospect of a McCain/Palin Presidency loomed, McKay and Crowder went to the Republican National Convention in August 2008 and ended up in a heap of trouble.
The pair arrived in Saint Paul,...
- 10/22/2011
- by Susannah
- SoundOnSight
For their 5th annual event, which is set to run Sept. 8-11, the Sydney Underground Film Festival is looking a little more demented than ever. And that’s saying a lot for this scrappy, still relatively young fest, which typically offers ample twisted cinematic offerings.
The fun kicks off with the Opening Night film, the demented superhero comedy Super, written and directed by former Troma go-to screenwriter James Gunn (Tromeo & Juliet); then ends with the Closing Night wallowing in Sydney’s seedy underbelly, X, by homegrown filmmaker Jon Hewitt.
Crammed between these two excursions into violence and depravity is a lineup filled with perverse visions, scandalous public figures, sickening horror, experimental pop culture remixes and more.
For Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film, the highlight of the fest is Usama Alshaibi‘s Profane, a complex psychological, psychosexual, spiritual morality play about a Muslim sex worker who endures a “reverse...
The fun kicks off with the Opening Night film, the demented superhero comedy Super, written and directed by former Troma go-to screenwriter James Gunn (Tromeo & Juliet); then ends with the Closing Night wallowing in Sydney’s seedy underbelly, X, by homegrown filmmaker Jon Hewitt.
Crammed between these two excursions into violence and depravity is a lineup filled with perverse visions, scandalous public figures, sickening horror, experimental pop culture remixes and more.
For Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film, the highlight of the fest is Usama Alshaibi‘s Profane, a complex psychological, psychosexual, spiritual morality play about a Muslim sex worker who endures a “reverse...
- 8/9/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Rating: 3.5/5
Directors: Kelly Duane, Katie Galloway
The best documentaries leave their viewers aghast at the twists and turns of real life – true stories that are more shockingly crafted and inherently bizarre than anything that could be written, sprung from someone’s imagination. In Better This World, directors Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega tell the true story of two Texas natives, David McKay and Bradley Crowder, and the series of events that led both of the young Midland residents to domestic terrorism charges. Like any good story, things are not what they seem in Better This World. And when it comes to the people who populate the story of McKay and Crowder – well, real people are the most deceptive piece of the complicated nightmare that ensnared McKay, Crowder, and everyone their case touched.
Read more on SXSW 2011 Review: Better This World…...
Directors: Kelly Duane, Katie Galloway
The best documentaries leave their viewers aghast at the twists and turns of real life – true stories that are more shockingly crafted and inherently bizarre than anything that could be written, sprung from someone’s imagination. In Better This World, directors Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega tell the true story of two Texas natives, David McKay and Bradley Crowder, and the series of events that led both of the young Midland residents to domestic terrorism charges. Like any good story, things are not what they seem in Better This World. And when it comes to the people who populate the story of McKay and Crowder – well, real people are the most deceptive piece of the complicated nightmare that ensnared McKay, Crowder, and everyone their case touched.
Read more on SXSW 2011 Review: Better This World…...
- 3/21/2011
- by Kate Erbland
- GordonandtheWhale
I sometimes find it hard to review politically charged documentaries. Like many critics, I don't limit my opining just to film; discussing political and social issues is one of my favorite pastimes. (My Facebook friends know this all too well.) When the worlds of film and politics intersect in documentaries, it can be a struggle to separate my opinions about a movie and its subject matter.
Better This World is such a film, a fascinating but disheartening documentary about two young Austin activists, Brad Crowder and David McKay, who were charged with domestic terrorism while protesting at the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minneapolis. While I greatly admire the film (which had its world premiere on March 12 at the Vimeo Theater and screened again on March 14 at the Alamo South Lamar), I found the story it tells completely infuriating.
Crowder and McKay are longtime friends who grew up together in Midland...
Better This World is such a film, a fascinating but disheartening documentary about two young Austin activists, Brad Crowder and David McKay, who were charged with domestic terrorism while protesting at the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minneapolis. While I greatly admire the film (which had its world premiere on March 12 at the Vimeo Theater and screened again on March 14 at the Alamo South Lamar), I found the story it tells completely infuriating.
Crowder and McKay are longtime friends who grew up together in Midland...
- 3/17/2011
- by Don Clinchy
- Slackerwood
When I first read about Better This World, I thought it was actually a narrative film. It tells the story of two teenage boys who are arrested for domestic terrorism after their plot to firebomb the 2008 Republican National Convention is thwarted. Surely, this must be fictional. But it's a documentary, and it's all unbelievably true. As the story unfolds, we see watch two disillusioned Texas teenagers get ground to pieces by the Homeland Security machine. It's infuriating and horrifying and devastating, and that's pretty much all you can ask from a documentary. I left shaking with the same indignant rage that infused me after seeing Inside Job and The Tillman Story. I realize the FBI and Homeland Security, at the basest level and politics aside, is honestly trying to stop another bombing from happening. But in those efforts, they are committing heinous crimes themselves. Using the manipulations of the legal...
- 3/15/2011
- by Brian Prisco
David McKay and Bradley Crowder, a.k.a. the “Texas Two," became household names during the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota when they were arrested on domestic terrorism charges. First the St. Paul police, without a warrant, seized homemade riot gear from a trailer belonging to McKay and Crowder’s organization (for lack of a better term), then they were accused of an alleged plot to throw Molotov cocktails at empty police cars parked in a parking lot.
- 3/14/2011
- by Don Simpson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
Filed under: Movie News, SXSW Film Festival, Cinematical
Celebrity Sightings
Because celebrities (film-related and otherwise) are people too and there's nothing - well, almost nothing -- that celebrities don't like more than being sighted at film (and other) festivals. Celebrities were out in full force on the opening night of the SXSW Film Festival.
Our Coverage
If you haven't had a chance to check out our coverage of the first day of the SXSW Film Festival, just follow this link for fest-related goodness.
Biggest Buzz
Joe Cornish's 'Attack the Block' absolutely killed at the midnight Alamo Drafthouse screening. Think 'Critters' meets 'The Warriors' -- Cornish described the wildly entertaining aliens-vs-teen-thugs horror-comedy as 'Super 8 Mile,' and the audience loved every minute of it. Apparently American distributors are afraid of the thick British neighborhood accents, but in our opinion the general kick-assery of the movie overpowers any sort of language barrier.
Celebrity Sightings
Because celebrities (film-related and otherwise) are people too and there's nothing - well, almost nothing -- that celebrities don't like more than being sighted at film (and other) festivals. Celebrities were out in full force on the opening night of the SXSW Film Festival.
Our Coverage
If you haven't had a chance to check out our coverage of the first day of the SXSW Film Festival, just follow this link for fest-related goodness.
Biggest Buzz
Joe Cornish's 'Attack the Block' absolutely killed at the midnight Alamo Drafthouse screening. Think 'Critters' meets 'The Warriors' -- Cornish described the wildly entertaining aliens-vs-teen-thugs horror-comedy as 'Super 8 Mile,' and the audience loved every minute of it. Apparently American distributors are afraid of the thick British neighborhood accents, but in our opinion the general kick-assery of the movie overpowers any sort of language barrier.
- 3/13/2011
- by Mel Valentin
- Moviefone
Filed under: Movie News, SXSW Film Festival, Cinematical
Celebrity Sightings
Because celebrities (film-related and otherwise) are people too and there's nothing - well, almost nothing -- that celebrities don't like more than being sighted at film (and other) festivals. Celebrities were out in full force on the opening night of the SXSW Film Festival.
Our Coverage
If you haven't had a chance to check out our coverage of the first day of the SXSW Film Festival, just follow this link for fest-related goodness.
Biggest Buzz
Joe Cornish's 'Attack the Block' absolutely killed at the midnight Alamo Drafthouse screening. Think 'Critters' meets 'The Warriors' -- Cornish described the wildly entertaining aliens-vs-teen-thugs horror-comedy as 'Super 8 Mile,' and the audience loved every minute of it. Apparently American distributors are afraid of the thick British neighborhood accents, but in our opinion the general kick-assery of the movie overpowers any sort of language barrier.
Celebrity Sightings
Because celebrities (film-related and otherwise) are people too and there's nothing - well, almost nothing -- that celebrities don't like more than being sighted at film (and other) festivals. Celebrities were out in full force on the opening night of the SXSW Film Festival.
Our Coverage
If you haven't had a chance to check out our coverage of the first day of the SXSW Film Festival, just follow this link for fest-related goodness.
Biggest Buzz
Joe Cornish's 'Attack the Block' absolutely killed at the midnight Alamo Drafthouse screening. Think 'Critters' meets 'The Warriors' -- Cornish described the wildly entertaining aliens-vs-teen-thugs horror-comedy as 'Super 8 Mile,' and the audience loved every minute of it. Apparently American distributors are afraid of the thick British neighborhood accents, but in our opinion the general kick-assery of the movie overpowers any sort of language barrier.
- 3/13/2011
- by Mel Valentin
- Cinematical
It's a story that requires a sympathetic eye: Twentysomething Texans/radical lefty activists David McKay and Brandley Crowder brought molotov cocktails to the 2008 Republican National Convention and were jailed for it. However, the tragedy stems from their legitimate desire to lash out at what they perceived as misguided governance--and when they are betrayed by the leader who inspired them to consider violent means, they never get the chance to uncover ...
- 3/12/2011
- Indiewire
When two young activists from Midland Texas were arrested with Molotov cocktails at the 2008 Republican convention, their story became a media sensation, but documentarians Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega couldn’t escape the feeling that there was more to this story than the good-kids-turned-domestic-terrorists version the media was reporting. So, they did what any skilled documentarians do: they took a leap of faith, jumped a plane and started talking to people involved with the case. The result is Better This World, a documentary that explores what happens when idealistic, angry young activists stop being polite and start getting mixed up with the FBI. I spoke with Galloway and Duane de la Vega as they were putting the finishing touches on their film, just in time for its premiere at SXSW.
Filmmaker: How did you decide to pursue this particular story?
Galloway: I was just sitting on a plane,...
Filmmaker: How did you decide to pursue this particular story?
Galloway: I was just sitting on a plane,...
- 3/10/2011
- by Mary Anderson Casavant
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Two boyhood friends from Midland, Texas – David McKay and Bradley Crowder – fall under the sway of a charismatic revolutionary ten years their senior. At the volatile 2008 Republican Convention the "Texas Two" cross a line that radically changes their lives. The result: eight homemade bombs, multiple domestic terrorism charges and a high stakes entrapment defense hinging on the actions of a controversial FBI informant. A dramatic story of ...
- 3/8/2011
- Indiewire
Two boyhood friends from Midland, Texas – David McKay and Bradley Crowder – fall under the sway of a charismatic revolutionary ten years their senior. At the volatile 2008 Republican Convention the "Texas Two" cross a line that radically changes their lives. The result: eight homemade bombs, multiple domestic terrorism charges and a high stakes entrapment defense hinging on the actions of a controversial FBI informant. A dramatic story of ...
- 3/8/2011
- indieWIRE - People
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