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January 15, 2020 – Emmy Award-winning director Anthony Giacchino has been officially selected to the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival 2020, where he and his production team will unveil their new short titled COLETTE. COLETTE follows former French Resistance member Colette Marin-Catherine, who for 74 years refused to step foot in Germany, until a young history student named Lucie enters her life and convinces her to visit the concentration camp where the Nazis killed her brother.
The world premiere screening of COLETTE at Big Sky Documentary Film Festival will take place February 14-23 in Missoula, Montana. The exact screening times will be announced in late January. Director Anthony Giacchino, along with film subject Lucie Fouble of France, will be in attendance for the screening and filmmaker Q&A.
Ninety-year-old Colette Marin-Catherine is one of the last surviving members of the French Resistance. As a young girl, she belonged to a family of Resistance fighters that included her 17-year-old brother Jean-Pierre. The last time Colette saw Jean-Pierre was in 1943, when he was arrested by the Gestapo and “disappeared” into the Nazi concentration camp system, never to be seen by his family again. The family was inwardly shattered, but outwardly stoic.
For the past 74-years, Colette has never allowed herself to put one foot in Germany. But that’s all about to change when she meets a young history student named Lucie. Lucie is researching the camp in Germany where Jean-Pierre died. Tracing the story of Jean-Pierre is, in fact, her special assignment. The film follows Colette as she travels with Lucie to what remains of the forced labor camp near Nordhausen, Germany.
It’s a journey of discovery on many levels, but the film’s greatest revelation is Colette herself, who at 90, is finally ready to let go of what she has, for over seven decades, held so tightly inside. Lucie’s youth and genuine concern has pierced the armor. The ultimate discovery of the film is Colette’s to make.
“Filming with Colette was an amazing experience for all of us. She was formidable and terrified me with the truths that she revealed to us,” said Anthony Giacchino, Director. “I learned that only one percent of the French population had actively resisted the Nazi occupation and Colette, as a young girl, was one of them. It’s been an honor and privilege to be able to share Colette’s incredible story with the world.”
COLETTE is a documentary short film created as part of Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond, a new video game from Respawn Entertainment and built in partnership with Oculus from Facebook. Set in the Second World War, Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond marks the return of the Medal of Honor series by the originators of the franchise.
COLETTE is a critical component of the Medal of Honor franchise’s mission of blending action and history together into an immersive experience. One of many film shorts created for the game, each of the personal stories, including COLETTE’s, adds context and historical weight to the gameplay as it unfolds for players, to provide an up close and personal opportunity with the places, sights, sounds and stories of the people who were there.
ANTHONY GIACCHINO, Director
Anthony Giacchino is an Emmy Award winning filmmaker living in NYC. His last doc, The Giant’s Dream (Warner Bros. Pictures), tells the story behind Academy Award winning director Brad Bird’s first feature film, The Iron Giant. Anthony is currently working on an untitled World War II project set for the 75th anniversary of the end of the war.
Anthony’s first feature-length documentary, The Camden 28, aired on the PBS series POV, and was nominated for a Writers Guild of America award for Outstanding Achievement in writing for the screen. The New York Times called the film “a brilliant merger of political outrage and filmmaking chops and the most suspenseful movie in theaters right now.”
In addition to his documentary film work, Anthony guest-curated the New York City Police Museum’s 2009 centennial exhibit on Joe Petrosino, the legendary NYPD detective whose 1909 murder in Palermo made him the force’s first and only member to be killed overseas in the line of duty. Anthony also marked another centennial in March 2011 with his Cooper Union installation, Letters to Another Century – The Triangle Fire Letter Project.
Since 2007, Anthony has produced, written & directed 6 Specials for History, with topics covering the Kennedy Assassination, Presidential Scandals, Pearl Harbor, the Science of Star Trek and the history of the Atlantic Slave Trade. He won the network a Primetime Emmy Award with his short VOD Series Great Moments From the Campaign Trail.
For Bad Robot and Paramount Pictures, Anthony produced and directed the Behind the Scenes Special Features for Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. And for Walt Disney Pictures, he worked on the bonus features for the feature film, Tomorrowland.
Anthony’s last name means “little jacket” and he is a member of the Writers Guild of America, West.
PETER HIRSCHMANN, Executive Producer
Peter Hirschmann is the writer, director, and executive producer of Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond, the new game in the Medal of Honor series built exclusively for virtual reality at Respawn Entertainment, an EA studio. Prior to joining Respawn, Peter was executive producer and VP of Product Development at LucasArts where he oversaw development of their portfolio of games from Star Wars to Indiana Jones to original IP.
Peter started his career at Amblin Entertainment, where he was the production manager for Steven Spielberg’s Director’s Chair. Peter then became the first story editor at DreamWorks Interactive, and went on to write, direct, and produce the original, award-winning Medal of Honor. This legendary military shooter earned a 92 Metacritic score and spawned a brand new billion-dollar franchise.
