Brendon Marotta

I’m Releasing Over Twenty Hours Of Bonus Features For My Documentary

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I’m releasing over TWENTY HOURS of bonus features for my documentary American Circumcision.

You can get them here.

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/circmoviebonus

These bonus features are a masterclass in the circumcision debate.

While the film is designed to be an introduction to the issue, and take people who know nothing about the issue from ignorant to expert in under two hours, the bonus features are designed for people who already know something (because they’ve seen the film). While you should watch the documentary first, these bonus features provide a college level course in the modern circumcision debate.

Why are you releasing so many bonus features?

Because they’re fascinating.

In editing the film, I removed everything that didn’t address the central dramatic question “should Americans continue to circumcise their children?” This meant a lot of interesting material didn’t make the edit, because it just wasn’t addressing this question. Scenes about masculinity, the symbolism of circumcision, the history of activist movements, the larger HIV issue, the psychology of everyone involved in this debate…

There is a lot of interesting material in these bonus features. Maybe even things I missed. I’ve held off on releasing them till now, because I wanted to give people time to absorb the film first (again, if you haven’t seen the film, why not??? Do that first.) Now however, I feel that it’s time to let people see just how deep this issue is, and how much more there is to learn about it.

These bonus features also provide a window into my editing process. If anyone thinks I edited an interview subject unfairly… well, let them watch the whole interview and see for themselves. I made a choice in editing to focus on the best arguments of each side. I am confident enough in my own skill as a filmmaker to show people my raw material, because I believe it will reveal that I have been fair to each interview subject, and that there were even some “cheap shots” I could have taken that I didn’t.

What can we expect in these bonus features?

Extended interviews with most major subjects in the film, deleted scenes on topics we didn’t explore, and entirely new material and interview subjects who didn’t even appear in the main film.

Here are a few favorites I suspect you’ll like:

  • At the start of his interview, John Geishker talks about how he got interested in Intactivism. This story is so fascinating and compelling, I almost made it a one minute deleted scene on it’s own and included a minute and a half of him talking unbroken in the film.
  • In his extended interview, Brian Morris talks about his childhood and early life motivations for speaking out on controversial issues in his two hour interview.
  • Fuambai Sia Ahmadu talks about the symbolism of circumcision in a deleted scene. When people have asked me what I most wanted to include and couldn’t, this is it.
  • Several entire interview subjects are only available here, including pro-circumcision HIV expert Daniel Halperin (who meets the Intactivists on camera), legendary mens rights author Warren Farrell, and Patricia Robinett, a woman who was circumcised by the American medical system.
  • Many people have asked us about the mother who appears in the film, talking about a circumcision botch. We shot a follow-up interview with her, talking about how she is doing today.

But to be honest – it’s all interesting. Your favorite moments may not even be on this list. My hope is that in the coming months, people will go through it and find things that even I didn’t see. When you do, please share your response and thoughts on social media.

P.S. Sign up for my email list before Halloween to get a code for %15 off all bonus features.

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