Home / 1996 / This Penn alum Filmmaker’s (and Lawyer’s) fascinating documentary

This Penn alum Filmmaker’s (and Lawyer’s) fascinating documentary

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Matt Rosler in 1996, Documentary, Filmmakers

A few years ago Penn alum Marc Simon (C’96, SAM) produced a great documentary called “Nursery University” that I really loved about how hard it is for parents to get their children into nursery school in NYC.

Marc now has a fascinating new documentary called “Unraveled” debuting next week in NYC and LA which explores the downfall of Marc Dreier, a prominent Manhattan attorney, who was convicted of orchestrating a massive fraud scheme.

After the jump,

learn more about the film
watch Marc explain in an interview on Bloomberg TV how this project was a personal one for him
find out the most surprising thing he learned about Marc Dreier
and find out more about how he is both a lawyer and a filmmaker at the same time!

“Unraveled” is the compelling first person account of one man’s audacious decent into white collar crime and the destruction left behind. Just days before Bernard Madoff captured the nation’s attention as the largest Ponzi schemer in U.S. hisstory, Marc Dreier, a prominent Manhattan attorney, was arrested for orchestrating a massive fraud that netted over 750 million dollars. The film is set in the “gilded cage” of house arrest, where the Court has ordered Dreier confined until his sentencing day. Destroyed by his own hubris, Dreier attempts to grasp his own tragic unraveling. With unprecedented access, “Unraveled” exposes a mastermind of criminal deception.

Marc tells me how surprised he was about Marc Dreier’s personality:

“The most surprising aspect of Marc’s personality was his ability, under house arrest and facing the potential of life imprisonment, to analytically approach his circumstances in a detached, business-like manner, in an effort to gain the information he thought he needed to prepare himself for prison. He approached the remainder of his life in a manner analogous to how an individual prepares for a vacation or business trip. The lawyerly aspects of his personality penetrated every facet of his preparation for prison, including the crafting of the arguments to the judge seeking a sentence that would allow him not to die in prison. He is not an individual who is apt to show emotion even in the harshest of circumstances.”

UNRAVELED will be released on April 13th in NYC at the East Village Theater, Laemmle’s Music Hall 3 in LA. Additionally, the film will premiere simultaneously on VOD. There will be Q&A talkbacks with the filmmakers that will take place after select screenings throughout opening weekend.

You have to admire Marc’s passion and drive! Congrats Marc!