Islanders tuning into the Oscars ceremony Sunday night may see a pair of familiar faces in attendance, and possibly even on stage accepting an award.
Jim Swartz and David Fialkow, both Island seasonal residents, are nominated as producers of Icarus, a 2017 documentary that helped expose Russian doping in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
Icarus is one of five nominees for best documentary film and favored by many to win.
“I think we made a very relevant movie,” Mr. Fialkow said this week in a telephone interview. “At the end of the day we were the ones who had the only actual proof that Russia cheated.”
Director Bryan Fogel set out to make a different film. He wanted to investigate the world of illegal doping in sports firsthand by participating in an amateur cycling race. In the process he stumbled on a major international doping scandal when he sought the help of a Russian scientist to obtain drugs. The scientist, Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, became the new subject and the film wound up exposing the dark web of state-sponsored use of banned performance-enhancing drugs by Russians at the Sochi Olympics. The scandal reverberated in this year’s winter Olympics, when Russia was barred from participation as a country. Dr. Rodchenkov later fled to the United States out of fear for his life.
The film premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and was picked up by Netflix for $5 million. Mr. Fogel later did more editing and reworking of the film.
It has won widespread critical acclaim.
Mr. Fogel is also a producer, along with Dan Cogan, Mr. Swartz and Mr. Fialkow.
In separate telephone interviews, the two Vineyard men said they are honored and proud to have the film nominated for an Oscar.
“It was just very appealing,” Mr. Swartz said of the decision to partner with the filmmakers. “Clean vs. unclean sports, lots of bad actors . . . it became more interesting than just filmmaking. It became a cloak and dagger game.”
Mr. Swartz was involved in bringing Icarus to the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival last summer through Impact Partners, a film financing company focused on social justice filmmaking. Mr. Swartz, his wife Susan, and another Vineyard seasonal resident, Diana Barrett, are all listed as founding members of Impact, which has supported more than 80 films since it started in 2007. He praised the Island as “an encouraging place for documentary film.”
Mr. Fialkow said the film was really a Vineyard project, since so many people involved in the production have Vineyard connections. He said the Island attracts many creative, socially responsible filmmakers, and said he looks forward to working with Vineyard filmmakers in the future.
Both men are also actively engaged in community causes on the Island. Mr. Swartz is a cofounder of MVYouth, a nonprofit organization started three years ago that funds scholarships and supports local organizations that benefit Vineyard young people. He helped lead the charge for the YMCA of Martha’s Vineyard during its capital campaign in 2008. Mr. Fialkow is also a trustee of MVYouth, and is involved with Camp Jabberwocky, hosting campers and staff at an annual gathering at his home every August. He said the Island has long been a magnet for him; he and his wife Nina were married on a beach in Aquinnah in 1989. They own a home in West Tisbury.
“What makes the Vineyard great is the people,” he said. “It’s the largest group of cool, eclectic and socially conscious people that you could ever put in one place.”
Mr. Swartz, a longtime Edgartown seasonal resident, concurred. “Every summer I notice something new,” he said. “It’s an Island of surprises.”
Vineyard filmmakers Kate Davis and David Heilbroner are also Oscar nominees this year for Traffic Stop, the film they produced and directed.
Icarus is available for streaming on Netflix and Traffic Stop is available on HBOGO.
For those interested in cheering on the Vineyard nominees with the Island community, the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center will hold an Oscar viewing party on Sunday to benefit the 2018 Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival. The event begins at 7 p.m.
Comments
Comment policy »