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Bathtubs Over Broadway

Synopsis

Comedy writer Steve Young’s assignment to scour bargain-bin vinyl for a Late Night segment becomes an unexpected, decades-spanning obsession when he stumbles upon the strange and hilarious world of industrial musicals in this musical-comedy-documentary. With Chita Rivera, Martin Short, Susan Stroman, Sheldon Harnick, Jello Biafra. Executive Produced by Impact Partners, Blumhouse, and David Letterman.

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The Filmmakers

Dava Whisenant Director/Producer/Co-Writer

Dava Whisenant is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker making her directorial debut with BATHTUBS OVER BROADWAY. Recently, she was the Co-Producer and Editor of TWO TRAINS RUNNIN' - a Grammy-nominated blues & civil rights documentary directed by Sam Pollard (2016 New York Film Festival). Dava was also an Editor for Focus Features' 3D documentary UNDER THE ELECTRIC SKY (Sundance 2014), and she cut the doc feature MERLE HAGGARD: LEARNING TO LIVE WITH MYSELF for PBS' AMERICAN MASTERS. Her diverse experience includes serving as Supervising Producer for BBC Worldwide, an editing assistant to Steven Soderbergh, and several years as an editor at THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN. Dava is a 2016 Sundance Fellow.

Amanda Spain Producer

Amanda Spain has been a producer and director in feature documentaries and television for over 15 years. She is thrilled to be a part of the producing team of BATHTUBS OVER BROADWAY. She recently produced and directed two short documentaries for ESPN's acclaimed 30 FOR 30 series: WRESTLING THE CURSE and SON OF SOUTH SUDAN (executive produced by Eva Longoria), which premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival. She also produced and directed IN THEIR BOOTS (executive produced by Robert Greenwald), which was nominated for an IDA award in the Limited Series category. Spain’s work has appeared on A&E, PBS, MTV, Link TV and The Sundance Channel and her films have been accepted into Women's International Film Festival and New Fest. She was a 2016-2017 Sundance Creative Producing Fellow and in 2013 she started Giving Voice Films, a company dedicated to producing compelling documentaries for both the large and small screen.

Susan Littenberg Producer

Susan Littenberg is a producer and editor with over 20 films to her credit. Most recently, she completed editing ALL ABOUT NINA for director Eva Vives. Other editing credits include THE BATTLE OF RAMBLIN’ JACK, 13 GOING ON 30, CHARLOTTE’S WEB, and AND EVERYTHING IS GOING FINE, directed by Steven Soderbergh. Susan produced SLITCH, a short film directed by Dianne Bellino, and she produced and directed a Jazz doc called VISIONS. Her short SUNBROKE went to the L'Alternativa Film Festival in Barcelona in 2002, and in 2010 Susan was nominated for an ACE Award for Best Edited Comedy for her work on EASY A. 

Ozzy Inguanzo Co-Writer/Co-Producer

Ozzy Inguanzo is a Cuban American writer and consultant on both studio and independent films. He is a frequent collaborator and research consultant to writer/director James Mangold, most recently on the feature film LOGAN and its Academy Award nominated screenplay. He was a primary aide to director Sam Raimi on the original SPIDER-MAN trilogy. Other credits include THE WOLVERINE, OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL, and THE PATRIOT. Ozzy's documentary TOMAS MILIAN: ACTING ON INSTINCT was produced by Oscar winner Bob Murawski for the Blu-ray release of the Spaghetti Western cult classic THE BIG GUNDOWN. He is the author of "Zombies on Film: The Definitive Story of Undead Cinema" (Rizzoli/Universe 2014), and "Constructing Green Lantern: From Page to Screen" (DC Comics/Universe, 2011).

Festivals & Awards

Cinema Eye Honors

2019

Nominee - Audience Choice Prize

Writers Guild of America

2019

Winner - Documentary Screenplay

IDA Documentary Awards

2018

Nominee - Creative Recogniation Award for Best Music

Nominee - Best Music Documentary

Tribeca Film Festival

2018

Winner - Albert Maysles New Documentary Director Award

Hot Docs

2018

Top Ten Audience Favorite

Viff Vancouver International Film Festival

2018

Official Selection

AFI Docs

2018

Official Selection

Nashville Film Festival

2018

Winner - Special Jury Prize

Newburyport Documentary Film Festival

2018

Official Selection

Nantucket Film Festival

2018

Winner - Best Documentary Feature

Heartland International Film Festival

2018

Competition Finalist

Reviews

Get ready to laugh, sing, cheer, and be dazzled by the unsung art of capitalist show tunes.”

-Pat Mullen, Point of View Magazine

Endearing … A portrait of hobby tuned obsession, a chronicle of a little-known subgenre of musical theater and an elegy for a period in midcentury America when company loyalty was, well, fun.”

-Ben Kenigsberg, The New York Times

The overarching and underlying question that the film poses is nothing less than: What is art? And, for that matter, is the conventional definition of good art too narrow to account for the merits of such works as these?”

-Richard Brody, The New Yorker

A top-notch "isn't this insane?!" documentary that gradually becomes a heartfelt testament to the value of finding whatever strange thing in life makes you happy.”

-John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter

[A] charming, goofy documentary.”

-Kevin Crust, The Los Angeles Times

BATHTUBS OVER BROADWAY takes something so obscure and makes it feel so big ... You'll want to soak up every second.”

-Stephen Saito, The Moveable Fest