January 18, 2021 — Cheryl Eagan-Donovan’s acclaimed documentary, Nothing Is Truer Than Truth, is set to reach new audiences worldwide as a result of a deal signed last fall with international film and TV distributor NENT Studios UK. Eagan-Donovan, a filmmaker, writer, educator, and former Trustee of the SOF, was honored in 2019 as Oxfordian of the Year. The film explores evidence that the true author behind the pseudonym “William Shakespeare” was Edward de Vere (17th Earl of Oxford), focusing largely on Oxford’s travels in Europe during 1575–76. It is based on Mark Anderson’s biography of Oxford, “Shakespeare” By Another Name (2005).
The film will be released by NENT UK under a new title — Shakespeare: The Man Behind the Name — drawn from a line spoken by Sir Derek Jacobi. A new 55-minute cut of the 85-minute original version has been prepared. The newly titled version was presented at MIPCOM, the world’s largest annual TV entertainment market, held online last October.
NENT UK, owned by Nordic Entertainment Group, produces and distributes content in genres ranging from documentary to game shows, lifestyle, and drama. Eagan-Donovan’s production company, Controversy Films, reports that the new distribution strategy will focus first on a UK broadcast, followed by outreach to continental Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Americas. The film will be released on VOD and streaming platforms and will be screened at historic venues, museums, and libraries.
The documentary has earned rave reviews. It explores Oxford’s formative time as a young adult in Venice, Verona, Padua, and other Italian cities, connecting the works of “Shakespeare” set in those very locations to Oxford’s intimate experience of Italian art, theatre, and culture — a topic also explored in books by Noemi Magri and Richard Roe.
The film also explores the mystery of Oxford’s (and Shakespeare’s) sexuality. It features interviews with many renowned Shakespearean scholars and artists, including Sir Derek Jacobi and Sir Mark Rylance (both Honorary Trustees of the SOF).
Nothing Is Truer Than Truth was shown in January 2018 at the San Diego Public Library (among other preview events) and had its major festival premiere in April 2018 at the Independent Film Festival Boston. The final original cut was shown at the SOF Annual Conference in Oakland, California, in October 2018. It was released in 2019, under its original title, for wide distribution by Gravitas Ventures and via streaming on Hulu and Amazon Prime. It remains available under that title on DVD and BD.
Eagan-Donovan was a featured speaker at the SOF Centennial Symposium in March 2020. At the SOF Online Symposium in October 2020, she spoke about her forthcoming book, Shakespeare Auteur: Creating Authentic Characters for the Screen.
