New to DVD this week:
MARIAN ANDERSON: THE WHOLE WORLD IN HER HANDS
Director:
Rita Coburn
World Premiere:
American Masters broadcast (February 2022)
About:
A focus on the life, career, art, and legacy of the African American contralto and civil rights pioneer, in her own words.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
THE STROLL
The history of New York’s Meatpacking District, told from the perspective of transgender sex workers who lived and worked there. Filmmaker Kristen Lovell, who walked “The Stroll” for a decade, reunites her community to recount the violence, policing, homelessness, and gentrification they overcame to build a movement for transgender rights.
Directors:
Kristen Lovell, Zackary Drucker
Producer:
Matt Wolf
Festival Section:
US Documentary Competition
More Info:
Check out the Sundance website for more details, including screening info, by clicking on the film title above.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
A STILL SMALL VOICE
An aspiring hospital chaplain begins a yearlong residency in spiritual care, only to discover that to successfully tend to her patients, she must look deep within herself.
Director/Producer:
Luke Lorentzen
Producer:
Kellen Quinn
Festival Section:
US Documentary Competition
More Info:
Check out the Sundance website for more details, including screening info, by clicking on the film title above.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
NAM JUNE PAIK: MOON IS THE OLDEST TV
The quixotic journey of Nam June Paik, one of the most famous Asian artists of the 20th century, who revolutionized the use of technology as an artistic canvas and prophesied both the fascist tendencies and intercultural understanding that would arise from the interconnected metaverse of today’s world.
Director/Producer:
Amanda Kim
Producers:
Jennifer Stockman, David Koh, Amy Hobby, Jesse Wann, Mariko Munro
Festival Section:
US Documentary Competition
More Info:
Check out the Sundance website for more details, including screening info, by clicking on the film title above.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
Coming to Netflix tomorrow, Wednesday, January 4:
MADOFF: THE MONSTER OF WALL STREET
Director:
Joe Berlinger
World Premiere:
Netflix (January 2023)
About:
A docuseries following the rise and fall of financier Bernie Madoff, who orchestrated one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in Wall Street history.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING
This celebration of Little Richard reveals the Black queer origins of rock ’n’ roll, finally exploding the whitewashed canon of American pop music. Through archival and performance footage, the revolutionary icon’s life unspools with all of its switchbacks and contradictions.
Director/Producer:
Lisa Cortés
Producers:
Robert Friedman, Liz Yale Marsh, Caryn Capotosto
Festival Section:
US Documentary Competition
More Info:
Check out the Sundance website for more details, including screening info, by clicking on the film title above.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, January 3:
LOWNDES COUNTY AND THE ROAD TO BLACK POWER
Director:
Geeta Gandbhir, Sam Pollard
World Premiere:
Tribeca 2022
Select Festivals:
Camden, BlackStar, St Louis
About:
The story of the local movement and young Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizers who fought not just for voting rights, but for Black Power, in Lowndes County, Alabama.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
JOONAM
Spurred by a provocative family memory and a lifetime of separation from the country her mother left behind, a young filmmaker delves into her mother and grandmother’s complicated pasts and her own fractured Iranian identity.
Director/Producer:
Sierra Urich
Producer:
Keith Wilson
Festival Section:
US Documentary Competition
More Info:
Check out the Sundance website for more details, including screening info, by clicking on the film title above.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, January 3:
GROUCHO & CAVETT
Director:
Robert S Bader
World Premiere:
Hamptons 2022
About:
A portrait of the enduring friendship between television personality Dick Cavett and his mentor, iconic comedian Groucho Marx.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
GOING VARSITY IN MARIACHI
In the competitive world of high school mariachi, the musicians from the South Texas borderlands reign supreme. Under the guidance of coach Abel Acuña, the teenage captains of Edinburg North High School’s acclaimed team must turn a shoestring budget and diverse crew of inexperienced musicians into state champions.
Directors:
Alejandra Vasquez, Sam Osborn
Producers:
James Lawler, Luis A Miranda Jr, Julia Pontecorvo
Festival Section:
US Documentary Competition
More Info:
Check out the Sundance website for more details, including screening info, by clicking on the film title above.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
what (not) to doc 