NYC’S PARAMOUNT BUILDING TO FREEZE ITS CLOCK TOWER AT 11:48AM TO COMMEMORATE THE VICTIMS

 OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS TOWER SHOOTINGS OF 1966

HONORING THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS VICTIMS AND THE VICTIMS OF CAMPUS VIOLENCE EVERYWHERE, IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE 10/12/16

RELEASE OF KEITH MAITLAND’S FILM, TOWER

*3 Critics' Choice Documentary Awards Nominations including BestDocumentary Feature*

NEW YORK, NY – Kino Lorber announced today that the Paramount Building at 1501 Broadway in conjunction with Keith Maitland’s award-winning film TOWER, will freeze the iconic three clocks at 11:48am until Wednesday, October 13^th, 2016.  This is the first time the clock has been frozen since the end of WWII.

50 years ago on August 1^st, 1966, a sniper rode the elevator to the top floor of the University of Texas, Austin, Tower, and opened fire at 11:48am, holding the campus hostage for 96 minutes.  When the gunshots finally ceased, the toll included 16 dead, three dozen wounded, and a shaken nation left trying to understand.  In Keith Maitland’s critically acclaimed documentary TOWER, the film’s subject, 18-year-old freshman, Claire Wilson was the first person shot from the Tower.  Claire, who was eight months pregnant, was walking with her boyfriend Tom, who reached down to help her; he was struck down as well.  For over an hour of the siege, Claire remained exposed to the shooter, conscious and steadily losing blood, while knowing that her boyfriend had been killed and that she lost her baby.  After 90 minutes losing blood and laying on the hot Texas pavement, Claire was saved by a fellow 17-year-old student, John Fox, who rushed into the line of fire to pull her to safety. 
“I am honored that they have chosen to remember the events of the Tower shooting in this remarkable way. Drawing attention to this memory is a way to learn from our past, and focus on our present and future together”, said Claire Wilson. 

TOWER is executive produced by Meredith Vieira and Luke Wilson and won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at SXSW 2016.  TOWER combines archival footage with rotoscopic  animation of the dramatic day, based entirely on first person testimonies from witnesses, heroes and survivors of America’s first documented mass school shooting, in a seamless and suspenseful retelling of the unfolding tragedy.  The film highlights the fear, confusion, and visceral realities that changed the lives of those present, and the rest of us, forever - a day when the worst in one man brought out the best in so many others. 

Killer Impact, a Killer Content company, is a producing partner on TOWER, and facilitated the participation of the Paramount Building and The Edition Hotel premiere events. Impact supports ambitious filmmaking of consequence, in this case, as a way of reminding the world that victims of violent crime must neither be forgotten nor should we ignore the takeaways. Impact will continue to amplify the #getanimated about gun violence messaging as a critical issue of our times, and along with Keith Maitland, Meredith Vieira Productions and Kino Lorber, is grateful to the Paramount Building, The Edition Hotel and everyone out there who spreads the word about standing up against senseless violence on behalf of victims, their families and the world. “TOWER’s timely, artistic and insightful retelling reminds us all of an event that has only become more meaningful in our communities and the amazing way in which people have the capacity to rise up as a result,” said Duane McLaughlin, President, Killer Impact.

The Paramount Building once housed the Paramount Theatre.  The structure is currently the 360th tallest building in New York City.  It was designated a New York City Landmark in 1988.  Today, the Paramount Building is known for its large four-faced clock near the top of the pyramidal architectural feature, with the hours denoted by five-pointed stars (forming a circle of stars as used in the  Paramount Pictures logo), topped by an ornamental glass globe.  At the outset of World War II, the globe and clock were painted black to maintain blackout conditions for fear of an enemy invasion; they were restored in 1996.

  
FOR CALL TO ACTION:
Twitter Handle: @TOWERfilm
Hashtag: #TOWERtogether
Hashtag: #GetAnimated
Kino Lorber suggests a call to action, get involved by snapping a photo of clocks stopped at 11:48am and spread on social.  Kino Lorber will release TOWER nationwide starting 10/12/16. 

ABOUT KILLER IMPACT

Killer Impact, Inc., a Killer Content company, is a financing and co-producing partner to Killer Films and third-party producers. It is Killer Impact’s mission to provoke open dialogue, ignite awareness and encourage advocacy of socially relevant issues by producing engaging, artful, content. Killer Impact supports under-represented voices in storytelling, providing a means of creative and financial participation in projects that challenge convention and advance diversity.

ABOUT KINO LORBER

Kino Lorber, Inc. was founded in 2009 by industry veterans Donald Krim and Richard Lorber. Combining the staffs, libraries and resources of Kino International, Lorber Films and Alive Mind Cinema, Kino Lorber has quickly become new leader in distributing the finest Art-house and International films.

Through its varied group of labels, Kino Lorber, Inc. offers the best in contemporary, classic and documentary films that aim to engage, provoke, stimulate, and entertain today's audiences.

With a library of more than 1,000 titles, Kino Lorber, Inc. releases over 25 films per year theatrically under its Kino Lorber, Kino Lorber Studio Classics, Kino Classics and Alive Mind Cinema banners, including five Academy Award® nominated films in the last seven years. In addition, the company brings over 70 titles each year to the home entertainment market with DVD and Blu-ray releases under its five house brands, distributes a growing number of third party labels, and is a direct digital distributor to all major platforms including iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Vimeo, Fandor and others.

Recent theatrical releases from Kino Lorber have included Jean-Luc Godard’s 3D masterpiece, Goodbye to Language, Ana Lily Amirpour’s mesmerizing debut, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night and Gueros, an experimental voyage of self-discovery from Mexican director Alonso Ruiz Palacios that won all the top awards at the Mexican Oscars. Specializing in documentaries in the areas of enlightened consciousness, secular spirituality and culture, Alive Mind Cinema seeks to provide audiences with intellectually provocative films that deliver the "aha" response of a transformative experience. Critically acclaimed films from the Alive Mind Cinema collection include Awake: The Life of Yogananda, Bikes vs Cars and The Messenger. Kino Classics has recently brought to limited theatrical engagement F.W. Murnau’s universally revered The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and the definitive restoration of The Phantom of the Opera.

Current and upcoming theatrical releases from Kino Lorber include Jafar Panahi’s Taxi, the most recent film from acclaimed Iranian director Jafar Panahi, Guy Maddin’s The Forbidden Room, a hilarious and wildly unhinged psychedelic trip of a film that played at Sundance, Berlinale TIFF, NYFF, and Miguel Gomes’ 3-part epic Arabian Nights, the second installment of which was Portugal’s foreign film submission to the 87th Academy Awards.