True to its tradition of showcasing the industry’s most distinguished content, HBO premieres its first documentary of the year, Regarding Susan Sontag, on Monday 9th February in the Caribbean at 21:00 hrs AST*. Passionate and gracefully outspoken, Susan Sontag was a prominent literary, political and feminist icon. As a critic, novelist, teacher, filmmaker, activist and iconoclast, her love of learning and examinations of cultural and political ideas made her both a compelling public figure and a significant 20th-century critic. This documentary offers a layered look at this towering cultural critic and writer whose works on photography, war and illness still resonate today.

Recipient of a Special Jury Mention at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival, Regarding Susan Sontag features a rich collection of archival materials, evocative imagery and accounts from friends, family, colleagues and lovers – including Sontag’s sister, Judith Sontag Cohen, authors Stephen Koch, Eva Kollisch, Fran Leibowitz and Sigrid Nunez, and poet Wayne Koestenbaum – and Sontag’s work, read by Patricia Clarkson.

A complex person, Sontag fiercely guarded her privacy, despite her boldness in the literary world. Publicly, she was the fierce “dragon lady” of American letters. Behind closed doors, she was as vulnerable as anyone else and felt the need to keep her sexuality private. The documentary explores the contrast between the private Sontag, sometimes full of doubt, and her self-assured public persona. Over the course of her career, Sontag never shied away from controversy, believing, “All writing is political. All acts are political.”

Born in New York City in 1933, Sontag lost her third battle to cancer in 2004.

Regarding Susan Sontag was produced and directed by Nancy Kates; executive produced by Tom Dolby; voice of Susan Sontag, Patricia Clarkson; and written by John Haptas and Nancy Kates. For HBO, senior producer Lisa Heller and executive producer Sheila Nevins.

*Atlantic Standard Time. For local transmission times call (246) 620-FLOW/3569 or visit www.hbomax.tv.