MERCHANT IVORY, a feature documentary film produced and directed by Stephen Soucy in collaboration with Oscar-winner, director and screenwriter, James Ivory, is the first definitive feature documentary to lend new and compelling perspectives on the partnership, both professional and personal, of director James Ivory, producer Ismail Merchant and their primary associates, writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and composer Richard Robbins.Footage from more than fifty interviews, clips, and archival material gives voice to the family of actors and technicians who helped define Merchant Ivory’s Academy Award-winning work of consummate quality and intelligence, producing films such as HOWARDS END, MAURICE, THE BOSTONIANS, and QUARTET. Anchored by interviews with Ivory and forty-one Merchant Ivory close collaborators, MERCHANT IVORY celebrates their experiences of being a part of the “wandering company.”With six Oscar winners, including Emma Thompson and Vanessa Redgrave, and actors Hugh Grant and Helena Bonham Carter among the notable artists participating, these close and often long-term collaborators provide new and compelling perspectives on a unique partnership that produced seminal films over four decades. MERCHANT IVORY intimately details the transformational cinematic creativity, and personal and professional drama of the company that left an indelible impact on film culture.
