RI’s DeNucci Wins at Cannes World Film Festival for Verdi Productions’ “Knock Out Blonde”
Monday, September 26, 2022
Rhode Island film director Tom DeNucci has earned top honors along with Rick Lazes for “Knock Out Blonde” at the Cannes World Film Festival.
The film is the authorized documentary of Kellie Maloney — formerly Frank Maloney — the famous transgender boxing manager for Lennox Lewis.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTDeNucci, who directed the film produced by Rhode Island’s Chad Verdi, said he got the news they received the top honor for “Best Documentary Feature Film” on Sunday — while watching the Patriots on Sunday.
“The Pats might have lost, but we won,” DeNucci told GoLocal. “I’ve never won a film festival before. To me though, it’s a team thing.”
“Most of all, this movie is all about Kellie,” said DeNucci, in a wide-ranging interview on Monday.
From Lennox Lewis to Kelly Maloney to Festival Winner
“It’s a knockout punch,” said DeNucci, of the documentary three weeks in the making. “We’re on year three [of making it], so to be able to cross the finish line — we put it out there and hoped people liked the film. [The festival jury] were really the first people to see the movie outside of our team.”
DeNucci talked about focusing on Maloney’s story, after previously featuring Lennox.
“We’d done a documentary about Lennox Lewis, ‘The Untold Story,’ and I remember while I was editing, Kellie had had briefly gone over her story, and I said, this is the movie right here,” said DeNucci.
“This documentary is really about Maloney and her life story, and how when she was Frank Maloney when represented Lewis, she had to deal with a personal battle,” said DeNucci. “This is about how she was able to be true to herself. Coming up in that testosterone fueled world of boxing in the ‘80s, It was quite the secret she kept back then.”
“So how she was able to come out and inspire a lot of people, it’s about some of the challenges and ultimately the outcome,” said DeNucci. “My favorite part is her journey back into the world of boxing.”
The documentary, according to DeNucci, was filmed in Portugal, where Maloney lives now, as well as England — and Verdi Productions’ studios in Rhode Island.
“I did a lot of reenactments in the film. As a viewer, we get to get inside her head,” said DeNucci. “Those were shot inside our studios here in Rhode Island.”
Now, DeNucci says with the award — and more festivals on tap — that he hopes the documentary gains steam.
“We’ll be at ‘Voices Rising’ in New York later this week will have its U.S. premier,” said DeNucci. “We’re moving forward. The big picture is to get this into a narrative-style feature film.”
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