Austin Film Festival 2006

Regional Premiere Wrestling With Angels is a feature documentary film about the Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning playwright Tony Kushner (Angels in America, Caroline or Change, Homebody/Kabul). It tells the story of a relentlessly creative spirit at work and how Kushner, raised in the Deep South, has become an outspoken activist, a compassionate spokesperson for outsiders, and one of today’s most important and entertaining playwrights. At its core the film explores the mystery of creativity, its sources, and Kushner's compelling plays that are set against the moral and political concerns of our times. Finally, it is the inspiring tale of how a passionately committed person can make a difference for social justice.

“An entertaining, intimate personal profile! (Kushner) has a gift for being very funny and serious at the same time.” – Stephen Holden, The New York Times

“Freida Lee Mock’s gentle, slightly love-struck documentary about Tony Kushner, the defining playwright of our age, shows us…how completely one can interface political and artistic engagement. Kushner can do the impossible with words.” – Helen Shaw, Time Out NY

“Energetic and engrossing!” – Eric Grode, The New York Sun

“Kushner is so charming that it would be easy to overlook the degree to which his plays are about things that matter. With his brains, passion and optimism, he’s quite a package.” – Jay Carr, amNY

“Tony Kushner is the loquacious, immensely articulate, witty subject. An essay in charisma.” – Hollywood Reporter

"Mock’s vigorous and peripatetic study of the brashly leftist writer has something to lift the hearts of intelligence-starved theatergoers, demoralized progressives and dispirited gay Mormons alike. Deftly interweaves a wealth of performance footage.” – Jan Stuart, Newsday (reporting from the Sundance Festival)