Remembering Gene Wilder with Director Ron Frank
Director Ron Frank will join us for this special screening featuring a post-film discussion, moderated by film critic and journalist Loren King.
This loving tribute to Gene Wilder celebrates his life and legacy as the comic genius behind an extraordinary string of film roles, from his first collaboration with Mel Brooks in The Producers, to the enigmatic title role in the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, to his inspired on-screen partnership with Richard Pryor in movies like Silver Streak. It is illustrated by a bevy of touching and hilarious clips and outtakes, never-before-seen home movies, narration from Wilder’s audiobook memoir, and interviews with a roster of brilliant friends and collaborators like Mel Brooks, Alan Alda, and Carol Kane. Remembering Gene Wilder shines a light on an essential performer, writer, director, and all-around mensch.
About Ron Frank
An award-winning filmmaker, Ron Frank has earned a Peabody award and Emmy nomination, and has worked as director, writer, editor and producer. Among his many collaborations, Ron has interviewed and worked with Gregory Peck, John McCain, Larry King, Robert Klein, Louis Gossett Jr., Mort Sahl, Hugh Hefner, Sid Caesar, Jerry Stiller, Jackie Mason, Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, and Deepak Chopra, among others. His latest film, Remembering Gene Wilder, is about the life of the iconic actor, writer and director.
He was producer and editor for MLK: The Assassination Tapes for Smithsonian Channel for which he received the George Foster Peabody Award. One of Ron's earlier television documentaries was a two-hour special for History Channel, The Hunt for Adolf Eichmann, narrated by Gregory Peck. He was director and writer for The Eternal Road on PBS, the story of a lost opera by Kurt Weill that foreshadowed the fate of German Jewry and was hailed as "an eloquent work" by the Los Angeles Times.
Ron produced and edited The Lost JFK Tapes for National Geographic Channel, a two hour special on the JFK assassination for which he received an Emmy nomination and was described by critics as "mesmerizing" (The New York Times), "revelatory" (Dallas Morning News) and, "fascinating" (New York Daily News).
He is director, producer and editor of his theatrical documentary film, When Comedy Went to School about the birthplace of stand up comedy in the Catskill Mountains; The Huffington Post called it “a loving look at a bygone era".
Ron has taught documentary filmmaking at UCLA and holds a BFA from New York University's film school.
