Joan Rivers - A Piece of Work

Spotlight

New York Premiere

USA | 84 MINUTES | English |

JOAN RIVERS - A PIECE OF WORK

Female Director(s), Documentary

At 76 years old, Joan Rivers is showing no sign of slowing down. The undisputed queen of American comedy's career has spanned five decades and as many media, from serving as the first female guest host of The Tonight Show, to opening a one-woman play in London in 2008, to winning The Celebrity Apprentice in 2009.

Following the comedy trailblazer over the course of a year, renowned documentarians Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg's (The Trials of Darryl Hunt, The Devil Came on Horseback, TFF '07) vérité film captures the sheer amount of work that Rivers does, stumping for herself across the country at stand-up gigs, personal appearances, television stints, and live performances. Her signature saucy humor is on full display both in the spotlight and behind the scenes, often betraying an obsession with success, celebrity, beauty, and superficiality, while always lambasting all of these trappings of fame to shocking comic effect. A Piece of Work reveals the fascinating and counterintuitive combinations of self-determination and self-deprecation, vulnerability and irreverence that fuel the Rivers empire, adding up to a quintessential film about a quintessential American icon.

Monday, April 26, 7:00 pm
@ SVA Theater 1


After the Movie: Show biz icon Joan Rivers will share stories from her five-decade career and the making of A Piece of Work with documentary directors Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg. Moderated by film critic Rex Reed—author, journalist and the film critic of the New York Observer.


CAST & CREDITS

Directed by Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern

Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg are the Emmy-nominated co-directors of The Devil Came on Horseback and The Trials of Darryl Hunt, for which they received the Dupont-Columbia Award for Excellence in Journalism and awards at more than 30 festivals. The pair co-directed The End of America in 2008.
Producer
Ricki Stern, Seth Keal, Annie Sundberg
Screenwriter
Ricki Stern
Editor
Penelope Falk
Director of Photography
Charles Miller
Primary Cast
Joan Rivers