One of cinema’s greatest partnerships is getting its due with Stephen Soucy’s forthcoming documentary Merchant Ivory, set for a release on August 30. Ahead of the release from Cohen Media Group, it’s prime time to revisit the work of Ismail Merchant and James Ivory, and now those in NYC will get a chance. “Merchant Ivory: An Extraordinary Partnership,” taking place August 23-29 at Quad Cinema, features restorations of seven masterpieces from the Cohen Film Collection and we’re pleased to debut the exclusive series trailer.
Titles include Merchant Ivory classics Howards End, Maurice, The Bostonians, Heat and Dust, and Quartet, plus brand-new restorations of James Ivory’s 1977 ballroom drama Roseland starring Teresa Wright, Geraldine Chaplin, and Christopher Walken and Ismail Merchant’s 1993 directorial debut In Custody starring frequent Merchant Ivory collaborator Shashi Kapoor. James Ivory will be in person for post-screening Q&As on August 27 & 28 for select screenings of In Custody, Roseland, and the new documentary Merchant Ivory.
Dan Mecca said in his review of the documentary, “The best moments of Merchant Ivory––a documentary directed by Stephen Soucy concerning the legendary production company––feel like their most-successful pictures: restrained and revealing at the same time. Mostly told chronologically and split into chapters with talking heads to drive the narrative, the film dutifully recounts the agony and ecstasy of Merchant Ivory Productions. Sections are devoted to producer Ismail Merchant, director James Ivory, writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, and composer Richard Robbins. Dedicated crew members and stars sing their praises while softly criticizing their methods of madness, most of the latter directed at Merchant. Highlights include recollections of Merchant’s culling together funds for each production, often starting a film before all the money was put together. Or Jhabvala’s brutal judgment: Ivory recalls her dislike of Maurice from pre-production onward, all because the novel wasn’t, in her opinion, up to snuff. Somewhat ironically, Maurice is perhaps the most important film the company ever made, something Soucy rightly underlines here.”
See the exclusive trailer below and learn more here.