Keith Maitland, winner of many awards for the Tower, also shown at the American Film Festival, this time tells the story of Saint Nicholas of Wayward Adults: the young millionaire Michael Brody, Jr., who in the 1970s announced overnight that he would be willing to give away his fortune to strangers – you just had to ask. It didn't take long for thousands of letters addressed to "Dear Mr. Brody" pour in from all over. They were stories full of pain and desperation and family photos that no one had ever read – until now. Talking to their authors, ready to share the most intimate details of their lives with a man they know only from the front pages of newspapers, Maitland tells a tale of disappointment, a struggle for a better tomorrow and dreams. And about a twenty-year-old man who possibly really wanted to fix the world. Or, maybe he just wanted to smoke a joint with Walter Cronkite.
Keith Maitland is the Emmy-award-winning director of the Independent Lens series and a producer. His film Tower, the tragic story of events in 1966, when a sniper shot people from a Texas University tower, won him multiple awards, including at SXSW. In Dear Mr. Brody, Maitland returns to a forgotten story from years ago, when a young millionaire decided to give away his fortune to complete strangers.
2009 The Eyes of Me (doc.)
2010 Independent Lens (TV series doc.)
2016 Wieża / Tower (animation, doc.)
2016 A Song for You: The Austin City Limits Story (doc.)
2021 Drogi Panie Brody / Dear Mr. Brody (doc.)