The Great Divide

Explores America’s gun culture by examining the country’s current violent trends, their connection to America’s history of violence, and the connection to the trauma that we have collectively endured as a nation.

2023 | Running Time: 1 hour 29 minutes | Rating: NR

THE GREAT DIVIDE is an in depth look at the origins of violence in America from its roots in native American genocide and African American slavery to the modern day epidemic of mass shootings that has increased in severity over the last 20 years. The film also looks at what it takes to solve this problem and begin to make change. A history of violence in America, presented in nine chapters.

Director, Tom Donahue, is currently in Post-Production on Mafia Spies, a six part series premiering on Paramount + in early 2024. Donahue most recently directed the four part series, Murder of God’s Banker, which premiered on Paramount + in early 2023. He directed King of Cool, a revealing look at the life of Dean Martin which was released on TCM in November 2021 and in 2022 on Sky in the UK and Arte in Germany. Prior to that, he directed This Changes Everything, a “searing” (Washington Post) investigation of systemic gender discrimination in Hollywood (including interviews with Meryl Streep, Shonda Rhimes, Cate Blanchett, Taraji Henson, Reese Witherspoon, Natalie Portman and many others). The film was released on 1,000 screens and is now on Netflix.

Producer, Ilan Arboleda, is an award winning feature film, documentary, and television producer. For the last thirteen years, he has served as the primary producer and founding partner at CreativeChaos vmg. His films often are rooted in social disruption. His Emmy-nominated film, Casting By, which premiered on HBO in 2013, directly helped create a new casting branch at the Motion Picture Academy and garnered its lead character the first ever Oscar for a casting director in 2017. With Thank You For Your Service, released theatrically in 2016 (and Hulu), the idea of a Behavioral Health Corps in the military was first introduced and legislation based on this concept was incorporated into the 2019 National Defense Appropriations Act. The film Bleed Out, which premiered on HBO in 2018, took direct aim at a healthcare giant in the midwest and earned a handwritten apology from the company’s CEO for a decade of systemic failures. This Changes Everything, now on Netflix, is a film that grapples with the systemic discrimination of women in Hollywood and how on-screen representation matters on a global level. Again, the main subject, Geena Davis, won her 2nd Oscar for the humanitarian work highlighted in the film.

“ ‘The Great Divide’ documentary tackles the gun debate in Colorado.”

ASPEN TIMES

“The film’s greatest achievement is that it will make anyone of any political persuasion seethe at different points. ”

DENVER GAZETTE