Kino Lorber Acquires All US and Canadian Rights to Jyllian Gunther's Documentary The New Public

Kino Lorber announced today that it has acquired all U.S. and Canadian rights to the documentary The New Public by filmmaker Jyllian Gunther.

The New Public premiered at the Hamptons Film Festival in 2012 and since then has become a hit among educators for its insightful portrayal of the challenges facing teachers working with students who are struggling to perform under adverse conditions.

Kino Lorber will release the film immediately to the educational market via its Kino Lorber Edu division, where it will be available for purchase with Public Performance Rights and Digital Site Licenses. At the same, Kino Lorber will partner with Gathr to offer the film for on-demand community screenings across America. The company will also broadcast the film on December 31, on the PBS World Channel/America ReFramed series. Later in 2014, the film will be released digitally and on DVD to consumers.

Filmmaker Jyllian Gunther chronicles the first and fourth year of Brooklyn Community Arts & Media high school, in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, where 1/3 of residents live below the poverty line and the graduation rate is 40%.

The film begins in 2006, with a single class of freshman and a team of idealistic educators who set out to create a dream school: an arts-based curriculum and a democratic environment that emphasizes self-empowerment, community collaboration and social change.

Initially, the buzz from everyone was that it is a dream-come true. But conflicts arise when idealism clashes with long-standing realities in the community that are far bigger than the school. Gunther returns in 2010 for the senior year of the inaugural class and experiences how much has changed - for better and for worse. Graduation will be a race to the finish with almost half the class not on track to make it. Over four years, this cinema verité film follows the journey of students, parents and educators striving to make a difference in the futures of young people whose lives are stark representations of our country's education and opportunity gaps.