Yahoo News Magnolia Pictures Acquires ‘Invisible Beauty’; Doc About Pioneering African American Model Bethann Hardison Features Zendaya, Naomi Campbell
EXCLUSIVE: Magnolia Pictures has acquired U.S. rights to Invisible Beauty, the Sundance world premiere documentary about the career of pioneering African American model and fashion icon Bethann Hardison.
Magnolia plans a September 15 theatrical release of the film directed by Hardison and Frédéric Tcheng (Halston, Dior and I). Lisa Cortés (Little Richard: I Am Everything, The Space Race) produced the film; supermodel Naomi Campbell serves as an executive producer.
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“In her lifetime, Hardison has seen the pendulum swing toward and away from the Black model,” notes a release about the documentary. “At every setback, she spoke up and rallied her colleagues and clients in the industry to advance change. Now in her 70s, the Brooklyn native is writing her memoir, taking stock of her own legacy at a moment when the fashion industry was shaken by discrimination.”
The documentary traces Hardison’s “impact on fashion from runway shows in the 1970s to roundtables about the lack of racial diversity in the early 2000s. Featuring intimate interviews with luminaries including Iman, Tyson Beckford, Tracee Ellis Ross, Zendaya, Fran Lebowitz, Pat Cleveland, Naomi Campbell, and Stephen Burrows, Invisible Beauty is an absorbing record of the racial evolution of fashion and an original contemplation on the life of an unparalleled trailblazer.”
Magnolia Pictures co-CEO Dori Begley observed, “Bethann and Frédéric have created a gorgeous, evocative memoir that serves as a cinematic blueprint for what it really means to be a maverick, and a shrewd catalyst for change.”
Hardison says working on the project made her reevaluate her own significant cultural contributions.
“Often I have said I didn’t think I had a story to document but once I got out of my way and allowed the collaboration with Frédéric, it made me a believer,” Hardison said. “The impact of hearing the responses of the audience has made me know further that this is and will be a film of legacy. Being recognized by Magnolia to partner has been an aspiration of mine and now to go as far as we can is the goal.”
Tcheng has become a leading filmmaker in the fashion documentary space. Along with directing Halston and Dior and I, he co-directed Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel, and co-edited Valentino: The Last Emporer.
“Our collaboration with Bethann has been on a very special journey,” Tcheng said, “and I’m excited to continue with Magnolia, a true cinema lover’s distributor, on the road to meet our audience.”
After premiering at Sundance, Invisible Beauty went on to screen at Tribeca Festival, Hot Docs in Toronto, the San Francisco International Film Festival, and DocLands in Marin County, Calif. It won best documentary feature and the audience award at the Sarasota Film Festival in Florida.
Invisible Beauty is directed by Bethann Hardison and Frédéric Tcheng. Lisa Cortés is the producer. Executive producers include Hallee Adelman, John Boccardo, Derek Esplin, Ivy Herman, Rick Rosenthal, Nancy Stephens, Andrea Van Beuren, and Naomi Campbell. Co-executive producers are David Chan, Heidi and Chris Stolte, and Robina Riccitiello. The documentary is a Cortés Filmworks Production, in Association with a Lane B Production, Vogue Studios, Whitewater Films, and JustFilms/Ford Foundation.
The acquisition deal was negotiated by Magnolia co-CEO Dori Begley and SVP of Acquisitions John Von Thaden, with Josh Braun of Submarine and Jason Ishikawa of Cinetic on behalf of the filmmakers.
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