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AYN RAND: A SENSE OF LIFE
NEW COLLECTOR'S EDITION AVAILABLE
Ayn
Rand: A Sense of Life
A Strand Releasing Director’s Vision Series Home Video Release
2-DVD SET/Hi-fi, Disc 1 - 143 minutes, Disc 2 - 118 minutes
COLOR/B&W, DVD, $34.99
Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life can be ordered through any
video store, or you can order it on-line by visiting:
•
Amazon.com
• The Ayn
Rand Bookstore
 The Academy Award
nominated documentary — the first authorized film look at the life
and work of the controversial Russian-born author Ayn Rand — is now
available for the first time on a Collector’s Edition, 2-Disc set.
The writer of such renowned novels as The Fountainhead and
Atlas Shrugged is the subject of Michael Paxton’s first feature
film. A flux of events, ideas, emotions and accomplishments combine
to make Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life a portrait of one woman’s
genius and point of view. Narrated by Emmy Award-winning actress
Sharon Gless, the 2-disc set offers millions of fans the opportunity
to relive the drama of Ayn Rand’s life and fiction: from her early
childhood and escape from Soviet Russia to her struggle and triumph
as an American writer whose book sales exceed 500,000 copies
annually after five decades in print. Drawing from personal papers
and public archives across two continents, the film combines fact,
literary fiction and an intimate weave of interviews with
intellectual heir Leonard Peikoff, television journalist Mike
Wallace, and others as well as rare photos, film footage and an
original film-noir scene from her 1934 play, Ideal. The
material captures Rand’s life-long themes of reason, rational
selfishness and political freedom. Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life,
sweeping from pre-Revolutionary Russia to contemporary America,
tells the story of a “ferocious angel,” a woman, and thinker who
continues to incite the curiosity and passion of millions.
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| SPECIAL 2-DISC SET INCLUDES: |
Disc 1 |
Disc 2 |
DISC 1
WIDESCREEN EDITION
of AYN RAND: A SENSE OF LIFE
with Interactive Menus
DISC 2
BONUS MATERIALS
- PHOTO GALLERY of some
never-before-seen photos and documents:
- Photos of Ayn Rand & Frank O’Connor
- Personal notes from Ayn Rand and Frank O’Connor
- TO LORNE DIETERLING - stills of the deleted dance
sequence from the film
- Stills of Kay Gonda’s “movie roles” from IDEAL
- Set Stills from the filmed version of Ayn Rand’s play,
IDEAL
- BONUS FOOTAGE of outtakes from the film:
- Additional Interviews with Leonard Peikoff, Cynthia Peikoff and Harry Binswanger
- Episode of FILMMAKERS - an interview with Director
Michael Paxton on the making of AYN RAND: A SENSE OF LIFE
- The complete filmed version of an adaptation of scenes from
Ayn Rand’s play, IDEAL
- CAST & CREW BIOS
- WEBSITE INFORMATION & READING LIST
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An excerpt
from the first review for the new Collector’s Edition of Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life Director’s Vision, 2-Disc Set:
“….The new double-disc
edition from Strand is nothing less than a cause for
celebration. A throwback to the days when feature
documentaries were polished, thoughtful and professional
affairs, Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life provides a
probing, informative and deeply intimate glimpse of the
controversial novelist and philosopher, a champion of reason
and the free market, whose ideas…continue to stir debate
even to this day. From her childhood in Soviet Russia to her
early work as a Hollywood screenwriter and eventual triumph
as author of such books as The Fountainhead,
Anthem and Atlas Shrugged, Paxton's film
magnificently sidesteps agenda to separate the woman from
the myth. It's a sympathetic but honest portrait of a figure
about whom most people are anything but honest.
The DVD features a beautiful
new transfer of the film on disc one and a wealth of new
supplements on disc two, including rare stills, additional
interviews, an interview with Paxton as featured in an
episode of Filmmakers and a complete filmed version
of Rand's little-known 1934 play, Ideal. This last
extra is the one that fans of Rand's work will find most
intriguing. Adapted and directed by Paxton with the original
intent to integrate it into the documentary, this beautiful,
black-and-white film is something of a mini-masterpiece, a
stylish, poetic work that beautifully captures the essence
of Rand's fiercely romanticized aesthetic. For reasons of
time and practicality it never did get integrated into the
documentary, which may actually have been a blessing in
disguise, for it works so well as a stand-alone piece that
both the film and Ideal end up being more effective
as complimentary pieces.
Regardless of how one feels
about Rand and her political and philosophical ideas, Ayn
Rand: A Sense of Life is a must-see documentary,
emotionally stirring and intellectually illuminative.
Collector Rating: WORTH FULL PRICE.”
-Wade Major, BOX OFFICE
MAGAZINE
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More Reviews for Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life:
The Toronto Star:
“****In this absorbing and rich documentary which deservedly won an
Oscar Nomination, Rand’s life is not merely explored but decoded.” —
The Hollywood Reporter:
“Details a fascinating life...with skill and intelligence...an
admirable job of humanizing a previously forbidding subject.” —
Pat Kramer, Box Office Magazine:
“Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life: provides viewers with an
enriching historical perspective of the life and times of Ayn
Rand....In this vivid film, writer/director/producer Michael Paxton
has studiously assembled a montage of Ayn Rand’s life, loves and
work....Despite the fact that Paxton never met the author, his film
breathes life into the woman, commonly regarded as one of the most
controversial and provocative writers of the century.”
“...Paxton makes Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life:
a testament to the woman. In explaining the person behind the great
novels, the film conveys her sense of life and establishes Rand as
one of the greatest visionaries of her time.”
Dave Jewett, The Columbian, Vancouver:
“The film, narrated by Sharon Gless, is an expertly assembled
collection of news films, interviews with various people and
television clips showing Rand being interviewed by people such as
Mike Wallace and Phil Donahue....It’s fun settling in to watch a
filmed tribute to a woman and her mind.”
The Washington Post:
“In a loving—but not fawning—documentary look at this fascinating
figure of 20th-century intellectual life, director Michael Paxton
has created an exhaustive and definitive history of a challenging
subject.”
Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life can be ordered through any
video store, or you can order it on-line by visiting:
•
Amazon.com
• The Ayn
Rand Bookstore
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