April 28, 2005
American Progress welcomes this month's feature film, CRASH, written, produced and directed by Paul Haggis, who has spent more than 30 years writing and directing for television and movies and was the producer for the Academy-Award winning film Million Dollar Baby. A Brentwood housewife and her DA husband. A Persian store owner. Two police detectives who are also lovers. An African-American television director and his wife. A Mexican locksmith. Two car-jackers. A rookie cop. A middle-aged Korean couple...
They all live in Los Angeles. And during the next 36 hours, they will all collide... Challenging and thought-provoking, Lions Gate Films’ CRASH takes a provocative, unflinching look at the complexities of racial tolerance in cotemporary America.
Diving headlong into the diverse melting pot of post-9/11 America, this compelling urban drama tacks the volatile intersectins of a mult-ethnic cast of characters’ struggles to overcome their fears as they careen in and out of one another’s lives. In the gray area between black and white, victim and aggressor, there are no easy answers...
This is the directing debut of award winning writer/producer Paul Haggis (“Million Dollar Baby”) from a story by Paul Haggis and a screenplay by Bobby Moresco. CRASH is produced by Cathy Schulman, Don Cheadle, Bob Yari, Mark R. Harris, Bobby Moresco and Paul Haggis.
Funny, powerful, and always unpredictable, CRASH boldly reminds us of the importance of tolerance as it ventures beyond color lines...and uncovers the truth of our shared humanity.
On April 28, 2005, American Progress held a special screening of CRASH and brought together a diverse panel to discuss the film: Congressman Artur Davis (AL-7), Brendan Fraser, actor, Paul Haggis, director of Crash, Michael Peña, actor, Congresswoman Hilda Solis (CA-32).