According to Deadline, prominent young documentarian and composer Ashton Gleckman will soon release a new John F. Kennedy docuseries. With Kennedy, Gleckman and RadicalMedia hope to share the story of the 35th president with a new audience. Kennedy follows the titular politician’s early years, his time in the war, his ascent to politics, and his Presidency up until his assassination. Gleckman previously wrote, directed, and composed the acclaimed Holocaust documentary We Shall Not Die Now.
Though it still has to find a home on a network or streamer, the series is aiming for a 2023 premiere in time for the 60th anniversary of his passing. Kennedy is slated to include previously unreleased historical images, audio records, and video clips. Gleckman put forth the effort to paint a complete picture of the president by conducting over 100 interviews and receiving broad access to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.
In addition, he handles a variety of roles in the production, including writing, directing, producing, editing, and scoring the show. RadicalMedia is linked to creating under the Black Bird Pictures name owned by Gleckman. Kennedy will be the most recent in a series of biographies of previous presidents produced by RadicalMedia. They were previously associated with Ronald Chernow’s Grant, which debuted on History in 2020, and are presently working on two films, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, executive produced by presidential historian Doris Kearns.
For the latter, they collaborated with Leonardo DiCaprio and his Appian Way productions. Both are set to air on A+E with FDR, yet another presidential endeavour. It is appropriate that the comparatively youthful Gleckman will be exploring the life of the youngest President ever elected to office. Gleckman, who is only 22 years old, has already made significant progress in his cinematic career. Before directing his debut feature, Obscurity, in 2016, he produced the short film Nevermore in 2015.
However, We Shall Not Die Now made the young artist famous and won accolades on the festival circuit. The feature documentary Music of the Lord of the Rings, which examines the methods and effects of Howard Shore’s Lord of the Rings compositions, was also directed by him that year. He has since released The Hills I Call Home, another film. Jon Kamen, CEO of Radical Media and executive producer of the Kennedy film, expressed his admiration for Gleckman and the concept in a statement, saying: Ashton is a very exceptional talent, and we are honoured that he has decided to work with us to produce this crucial series. Our joint objective for this unique series is to choose the best venue where we can draw the broadest audience possible to consider Kennedy’s basic principles, leadership style, and passion for civic responsibility, particularly for a younger generation that severely lacks role models in the political arena today.
Gleckman also mentioned how he looked for the ideal collaborator to join him on the documentary, adding: Some of my all-time favourite documentaries were produced by RadicalMedia. From Fog of War to Summer of Soul, these movies have had a significant impact on my method and aesthetic as a filmmaker. My initial encounter with Jon Kamen and Dave Sirulnick made it quite evident that these are producers that not only work hard to make the greatest movies they can but also take great pride in the narratives they choose to tell and the collaborators they work with. I’m overjoyed to have discovered Radical as my home for this project and many more to come.
In 2023, Kennedy will be released at some point.