Hulu launches doc of the month project with Joe Frazier film

February 6, 2012 by Kelly Anderson

Online platform Hulu is kicking off a new documentary of the month initiative with Joe Frazier: When the Smoke Clears, which also ties in with Black History Month in the U.S.

The Mike Todd-directed documentary is a biography of the late boxer, and looks at both his career and the establishment of his Philadelphia gym. Joe Frazier: When the Smoke Clears premieres on the free-to-stream site this month, and is available for streaming throughout February.

Narrated by Frazier’s son Marvis, the film has unprecedented access to the fighter, as well as interviews with fellow boxers George Foreman, Larry Holmes, and Angelo Dundee, as well as Frazier’s friends and family.

“This project has been a long road for us,” said Todd. “We never quite appreciated while filming, how important our project would turn out to be in terms of preserving Joe’s legacy.

“We had a lot of conversations with a lot of broadcasters about where the best home for the film was,” he added. “Ultimately we felt that Hulu was the right place, where people could see the film in its most honest form. The fact they are making the doc their first ‘Documentary of the Month’ and are promoting it for Black History month, we felt was very much in tune with the story we tried to tell.”

“We’ve decided to make it our documentary of the month for February, Black History Month, because we can’t think of many better ways to live a life than the way Joe Frazier did,” added Ben Collins, assistant editor at Hulu. “It’s too bad he won’t be able to see the positive reception something this expansive and good will be given.”

Frazier passed away on the day of the film’s festival premiere at New York’s DocNYC in November.

Joe Frazier: When the Smoke Clears is set for an international release in the summer.

Tags: Hulu, Joe Frazier, Joe Frazier: When the Smoke Clears, Mike Todd