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EXCLUSIVE: “You know, it’s a political movement in a kind of odd way,” says U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr. of the documentary Left Behind and its tale of New York mothers attempting to bring into being the first school for dyslexics in the Big Apple’s public system.
In many ways, a classic story of successfully taking on City Hall, the Anna Toomey directed film follows the parents and their families in a battle that saw to the creation of the South Bronx Literacy Academy last year. “That’s the beauty of filmmaking, that layering on of here’s how we can bring in all of these creative ideas to express something,” Toomey tells Deadline of the techniques and tones Left Behind experimented with, including songs by producer Mullen, to depict a story that screams out difficult on all levels.
Having premiered at the Woodstock Film Festival last month, the Green Hummingbird Entertainment and Velvet Strand produced Left Behind also now has secured North American theatrical distribution through Abramorama, Deadline can reveal. “They really felt that it was something that spoke to them,” producer Sian Edwards-Beal says of the theatrical distribution, marketing and rights management company
Abramorama CEO Karol Martesko-Fenster added, in a statement to Deadline: “We are thrilled to work with Anna Toomey, the dedicated producing team, and the extended support groups behind Left Behind, who have collaborated to bring this important subject into the foreground. We’ve seen the film’s conversation-starting power at festivals and special screenings and are looking forward to sharing the film widely and have it inspire many more conversations leading to needed changes.”
Under the Abramorama, deal, Left Behind will debut on January 17, 2025, with a week-long engagement at NYC’s QUAD Cinema. After that, the 74-minute-long film will to grow to being shown in select theaters across the nation.
Absent from U2’s opening of the Sphere in Las Vegas last year due to an injury, Mullen contributed two songs to Left Behind, with some very personal skin in the game.
On that, Mullen, Toomey and Edwards-Beal spoke to me about Left Behind, getting up close with dyslexia in the schools and families, the politics of change, music, recovery and a certain band getting back in the studio.
DEADLINE: So, Larry, how did you get involved with the film?
LARRY MULLEN JR.: I was introduced the film through Chris Farrell. He and I had done some work together before, and he had been working with Anna on this before he and I were involved. He showed me very early cut of the film, and he knew I had a dyslexic son, and he just asked me: Would it be interested in helping him out? And so that’s how it started. It’s about a year and a half ago now.
DEADLINE: Anna, with that, the South Bronx Literacy Academy has been open for over a year now, as we see at the close of Left Behind. Where are things at now?
ANNA TOOMEY: It’s now in its second year. The first year it had 67 students. Now it’s 98, and they have just gotten approval to open a second location in Brooklyn next year. It’d be a similar second grade, third grade school specifically for kids with learning disabilities, reading disabilities.
DEADLINE: That’s fantastic. Which causes me to wonder what got you on this path with your feature film debut?
TOOMEY: I knew about this issue from my own personal experience with my son and being denied services for him in our own public school. So, it was something that I knew about, and I was thinking how do I bring this to a larger audience? How do I make this into a story that will relate for people? I came across an article in Chalkbeat newspaper, which just covers New York City Education. I saw this article about five women who were setting out to start the first school for dyslexic kids. And obviously that piqued my interest. And when I spoke to them, I think I really knew it was going to be a great story.
DEADLINE: A great story with an ending as yet to be written at that time, so to speak…
TOOMEY: Right, I didn’t know whether they would be successful or not, but what I did know is that I felt like the end of my story was either going to be people were going to be outraged that they weren’t able to accomplish what they set out to, or they were going to be incredibly inspired and feel satisfied and excited, and want to take action themselves. So, I figured either way, it would be a good story.
DEADLINE: Sian, Left Behind premiered at the Woodstock Film Festival last month, which is a good place for a docu to launch, but what’s next?
SIAN EDWARDS-BEAL: Well, the film’s going to show at Doc NYC, which starts next week. It’s in the Metropolis Competition there, which we’re very excited about. And, some breaking news, we are excited to announce that we have theatrical distribution with Abramorama, and the film is going to show in is going to open in New York City on the 17th of January.
DEADLINE: How did that deal come together, did they see it at Woodstock?
EDWARDS-BEAL: No.
We sent them a preview copy ahead of Woodstock, and they came on board right around the Woodstock time, and they loved it. They really felt that it was something that spoke to them. They’re, as you know, boutique theatrical distributor, and they specialize in social activism and music. So, it really couldn’t be a better match. And David Beal, who is my business partner at Green Hummingbird Entertainment had the right idea of going, these are going to be the right people for it, and make sure that it got to their hands in a timely fashion.
DEADLINE: Larry, to pick up on what Sian said about social activism and music, you are really wearing two hats here – – as a producer and as having contributed to the soundtrack with Gayle …
MULLEN: Well, on the musical front, I kind of came to it a bit late.
DEADLINE: Really?
MULLEN: Yeah, odd right? We talked about what I could do, or would I do anything, and, as you know, I got injured, so it was difficult for me to figure out what I could do. Thankfully, last couple of months, I was able to get back at it. And I brought the documentary to my son, who is dyslexic, and he watched the film with me. I could see how he was reacting to it, and I just came up with an idea of his intensity and how he was feeling. I just literally took the idea, went into the studio and recorded what I thought he felt like now.
DEADLINE: What was his reaction?
MULLEN: Oh, he laughs at me and says, oh, you think that you understand how I feel. And I say, well, I’m imagining what it feels like…
DEADLINE: As the Fresh Prince once said: Parents just don’t understand.
MULLEN: Yeah, perfectly, perfectly correct. But really, I was inspired by him, and that’s where the idea grew from with the music.
You know, it’s not the kind of film where I think a ballad would work. It needed to be something that was a true experience. You know, I don’t do this stuff normally, it’s not my wheelhouse, but, I felt very passionate about the idea for obvious reasons.
DEADLINE: You did two songs for the film. Did it end up with what you envisioned?
MULLEN: Dominic, there’s always risk, you know. I’m a drummer, and there’s risk when you do these things. And, you know, it’s for film, it’s not for release. It’s not Mission Impossible, but I think it’s a powerful piece. And, like I said, the idea is very much centered in my impression of how my son felt when he watched the film.
DEADLINE: Yes..
MULLEN: Just one other thing. It’s really worthwhile mentioning Gayle, who came in very late to this. She’s a young woman with dyslexia, a brilliant singer, and she really turned the theme song of this around. And it’s just amazing that she did it. And she’s a really articulate, clever, and it just makes a big difference when somebody like her, who you know, she’s a big star, and she’s got lots more to go, when she turns around and just drops everything and says, I’ll come on board When she says, I’ll do this, and I’ll work on your film, and I’ll collaborate with an old guy. She did that, and that takes a lot of humility, and I’m very grateful to her, and we all very grateful to Gayle for doing that.
DEADLINE: I have to ask, if for no other reason that millions of U2 fans will roast me if I don’t: how is your health, how is your injury? How is the process of recovery?
MULLEN: I’m recovering. It’s just slow. And yeah, I’m anxious to get back, and this was a very good way back in. You know, there’s, there’s plans to go back into the studio and that. So, yeah, it’s exciting, but it is slow. Thank you for asking, though Dominic.
DEADLINE: Of course, sir. Anna, in that vein of what’s next, based on the women and their families that are in Left Behind, the way the film ends, the expansion of the programs that you mentioned earlier — is there a sequel here?
TOOMEY: (LAUGHS) I mean, I think there is.
I think when people watch this film, they are going to be moved to act, you know. After watching it at Woodstock, it really deeply resonated with people. With people that surprised us, that really felt like I didn’t understand what a child or a parent goes through, and also the fact that it’s so solvable, right? It’s we know what works for these children. We know, if they are given and get help at a young age, their chances of success are so much greater and that they don’t have a chance of ending up in prison.
DEADLINE: With the huge numbers of people behind bars with dyslexia, could that be the next version of this story? Out of the schools, and into the prisons?
TOOMEY: Interesting. I think there is a potential for sequel in the sense that there’s still a lot to be solved. But there’s also, as you said, you look at a prison population of dyslexics, that 50% is a large number. What happens there? What’s next for those people, for adults who are still struggling? So, there’s definitely potential for more.
DEADLINE: Sian, for people who don’t have dyslexia or a child with dyslexia, the subject comes up when they talk about famous people who do have it – the Tom Cruises, Noel Gallagher, Spielberg. Obviously, you have Larry and Jean Reno as producers, but on screen Left Behind shies away from the celeb spotlight, what was the reasoning behind that decision?
EDWARDS-BEAL: When we were introduced to the project, what really struck me is this, there’s a lot of films about dyslexia out there, what Anna had that was unique was a story, and this access to this school, which actually was people trying to make a difference.
At Green Hummingbird, we’re always looking for opportunities to tell stories that are meaningful and get them out of the world in ways that will grab people’s imagination. This story already had that engine behind it. In the story that Anna had chosen, we were very instrumental in convincing Larry, who was a producer, to get involved musically in the film. And that certainly, I think, was when you look at the potential celebrity access, he was very involved in the in the production of the film. So, we really saw the potential power there in that music, too. That was really something that was very authentic. It wasn’t just layering in people from the outside. There was something really organic about that growth, and I think that was something that was really exciting.
DEADLINE: Anna, we’ve talked about a sequel, but one thing in Left Behind that you use is animation …
TOOMEY: Yes, and I think it helps people walk away with a real understanding of what these children feel, without really exposing them in just watching it happen. That’s the beauty of filmmaking, that layering on of here’s how we can bring in all of these creative ideas to express something.
MULLEN: Also, I think that this, is, right now, seen as a New York story, and I really don’t think that that’s the case. I think that this is a worldwide story, and you talked about a Part Two…
DEADLINE: Yes...
MULLEN: I think Part Two, Part Three and Part Four are yet to be written. They might be in different languages and in different countries, but I think that the potential of this film is to draw attention to what can be done.
You know, it’s a political movement in a kind of odd way.
DEADLINE: How so?
MULLEN: When you talk about the population in prison, it’s the same in Ireland, you know. And, outside of that, my son fell through the cracks, and he didn’t have access. That’s the other part of this. That lots of people who we have all met and been in touch with from different parts of the world have had similar experiences. The difference here is that these women, all of them, managed to change and invoke change. I just thought that’s a really great lesson, and there’s a certain amount of joy in that, and also resolution, that they actually achieve something.
Most of the time with documentary films, you never get to the great moment where they actually did this. Left Behind does, and I think that that’s an incredibly powerful story.
