
ABACUS
From acclaimed director Steve James (Hoop Dreams, The Interrupters, Life Itself), Abacus: Small Enough to Jail tells the incredible saga of the Chinese immigrant Sung family, owners of Abacus Federal Savings of Chinatown, New York. Accused of mortgage fraud by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., Abacus becomes the only U.S. bank to face criminal charges in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The indictment and subsequent trial forces the Sung family to defend themselves – and their bank’s legacy in the Chinatown community – over the course of a five-year legal battle.
Toronto International Film Festival
New York Film Festival
Chicago International Film Festival
IDFA
Palm Springs International Film Festival
True/False Film Festival
Cleveland International Film Festival
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
Hong Kong International Film Festival
Sarasota Film Festival
Ashland Independent Film Festival
Wisconsin Film Festival
RiverRun Film International Film Festival
Nashville Film Festival
Sydney Film Festiva
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Steve James is recognized as one of the most acclaimed documentary filmmakers of his generation. His film "Hoop Dreams" was nominated for an Academy Award ® for Best Film Editing and recently selected for the Library of Congress National Film Registry. James' "Stevie" (2002) -- winner of the Sundance Film Festival Cinematography Award and IDFA Grand Jury Prize; the Independent Documentary Association Award-winning miniseries The New Americans; Tribeca Film Festival Grand Prize winner "The War Tapes" (2006), which James produced and edited; "At the Death House Door" (2008), co-directed with Peter Gilbert; "No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson" (2010) -- for ESPN's Peabody winning 30 for 30 series; and "The Interrupters" (2011) -- which won an Emmy, Independent Spirit Award, and the DuPont Columbia Journalism Award. James' "Life Itself" (2014) was named the best documentary of the year by over a dozen critics associations, Rotten Tomatoes, the Critics' Choice Awards, the National Board of Review, and the Producers Guild of America and was nominated for Emmy awards. James has also directed "Prefontaine" (1997) and numerous other documentaries and short films throughout his career. His current projects include "Generation Food," with author Raj Patel that looks at solutions to fixing the broken global food system, and To Bridge the Divide, a series that follows the stories of a dozen students grappling with how to address what is commonly called a "racial achievement gap."