
“Jean Seberg: Actress Activist Icon”, a feature-length documentary produced by Garry McGee of McMarr, LTD, and Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films was awarded a Mid-America Emmy® Award in the Historical Documentary category. Each of the filmmakers received an Emmy statue.
“We feel the Emmy win for “Jean Seberg” affirms the amazing life and enduring legacy of Jean, an Iowa daughter, a caring humanitarian, and an American and international movie star.” said producer Kelly Rundle.
Selected from 18,000 aspiring actresses world-wide at age 17, Marshalltown, Iowa’s Jean Seberg made her acting debut in Otto Preminger’s 1957 Saint Joan and starred in Hollywood films “Lilith”, “The Mouse that Roared”, and the blockbuster “Airport”, among others. She is best known for her performance with co-star Jean-Paul Belmondo in director Jean-Luc Godard’s groundbreaking French New Wave film “Breathless”.

Seberg’s offscreen civil rights activism and her financial support for the Black Panther Party made her a target of the F.B.I.’s COINTELPRO and their plan to “neutralize” her initiated a downward spiral leading to her mysterious and untimely death in Paris at age forty.
“Jean Seberg: Actress Activist Icon” features never-before-seen private photographs, and home movie footage. It is the first documentary film to focus on the private side of the international movie star, combining exclusive interviews with Jean’s family, including her sister Mary Ann Seberg and former husband François Moreuil; co-star Mylene Demongeot, director Nicolas Gessner, former Black Panther Party leader and Jean’s friend Elaine Brown, friend Mark Adams-Westin; Dr. Jane Simonsen and Dr. Horace Porter in conversation about Seberg's civil rights era activism, and film historian Dr. Rich Ness.
Garry McGee holds his Emmy Award for "Jean Seberg: Actress Activist Icon".
Producer Garry McGee's research and work on Seberg, began decades ago: “"When I was a student at Iowa State University and in one of many film classes that Dr. Rich Ness taught, his introduction to the film "Breathless" was a whirlwind of information not only about the work, but also about the film’s leading actress Jean Seberg. I recall he ended the overview by noting how odd it was to see Seberg in this small French film, and then ten years later she was starring in the big budget Hollywood musical "Paint Your Wagon". That was enough to pique my curiosity, as Jean Seberg wasn't exactly a household name to my generation.
"What started as a small documentary film ended up being much larger and international, with interviews not only in the U.S. but also in France with people who knew Jean. To make the documentary more well-rounded, interviews were recorded to place her as an international movie star, an humanitarian, and the icon she is today,” McGee continued.

Tammy & Kelly Rundle each received an Emmy Award for "Jean Seberg: Actress Activist Icon", and an Emmy in the Educational category for their short documentary "Remembering Forest Grove". They won their first Emmy in 2021 for their environmental documentary "Over and Under: Wildlife Crossings".
“My partners Kelly and Tammy Rundle asked who we could get for the important role of film historian for the documentary, and someone who knew Jean’s work well. The first person I thought of was critic Andrew Sarris, but I knew he was unwell and unable to be involved. A split second later, I suggested Dr. Rich Ness. He was contacted, agreed, and the rest is history.”
Garry McGee and "Jean Seberg: Actress Activist Icon" film historian Dr. Rich Ness at the Orpheum Theatre Center in Marshalltown, Iowa for the Jean Seberg Film Festival.
“Rich was always a supporter of the documentary, long before his on-screen appearance, and long after its completion,” said McGee. “He witnessed the struggles in moving forward with the work, and all that it entailed with post-production editing, fundraising and finding distribution for the film. But Rich was among the small group of supporters who was with us throughout the entire process, and we are forever grateful."

Amy and Mark Adams-Westin of Amy & Adams.
The award-winning documentary features an interview with Jean Seberg's friend Mark Adams-Westin, who sang at her daughter Nina's funeral in Marshalltown, Iowa in 1970. The original music of Mark and his wife Amy of Amy & Adams is showcased in the film.
“Jean Seberg: Actress Activist Icon” was funded in part with grants from Humanities Iowa, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and Iowa Arts Council. The film is preparing for distribution and its release will be announced when negotiations are completed.
Produced by Emmy award-winning filmmaker Garry McGee (McMarr Ltd.), and Emmy-award winning filmmakers Kelly Rundle and Tammy Rundle (Fourth Wall Films), Jean Seberg: Actress, Activist, Icon tells the true story of Hollywood and heartbreak, beginning when an unknown 17-year-old Iowa girl who beat out 18,000 actresses to play Saint Joan in Otto Preminger's 1957 film. The documentary goes behind the scenes of her rocky life in the international film spotlight, her civil rights activism that drew FBI attention, and her mysterious death in Paris in 1979. The documentary is in the distribution phase.