photo by Jim Judkis
Director:
Morgan Neville
Premiere:
Sundance 2018
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Hot Docs, SXSW, True/False, San Francisco, Montclair, Seattle, Cleveland, Minneapolis St Paul, Wisconsin, Boulder, Miami
About:
A moving exploration of the enduring impact of children’s television show host Fred Rogers on generations of viewers through his pioneering program, MISTER ROGERS’ NEIGHBORHOOD.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Thursday, June 7:
TO A MORE PERFECT UNION
Director:
Donna Zaccaro
Premiere:
Woodstock 2017
Select Festivals:
Nashville, Rocky Mountain Women’s, Inside Out, LGBT fests in Boston and Miami
About:
The decades-long love between a lesbian couple serves to revisit the story of marriage equality in the US.
Zaccaro’s hour-long film focuses on Edith Windsor and Thea Spyer, a couple whose story was already told in 2009’s EDIE & THEA: A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT by filmmakers Susan Muska and Greta Olafsdottir. As recounted there, Edie and Thea, who met in the early 1960s, finally married in 2007, after decades as community activists. Covering much of the same territory for its background about their lives and the saga of same sex marriage, this film continues their story after Thea passed away in 2009. Facing estate taxes because her marriage rights were not recognized by the federal government, Edie took to the courts, ultimately facing off against DOMA in the case which lends this film its subtitle and which overturned that shortsighted, discriminatory law. While Edie is without question a pioneer and a hero, this project unfortunately feels like a bit of an also-ran given the familiarity of her story from the previous film and that of the defeat of DOMA from various docs on the subject of same sex marriage in recent years.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
New to DVD and VOD this week:
THE FABULOUS ALLAN CARR
Director:
Jeffrey Schwarz
Premiere:
Seattle 2018
Select Festivals:
Frameline, Outfest, Inside Out, QDoc, NewFest, Hot Springs Doc, Key West, LGBT fests in Boston, Melbourne, Atlanta, Palm Springs, Fresno, Durham, Dublin, Houston, Denver, Cleveland, and Halifax
About:
The story of the flamboyant entertainment impresario behind GREASE and CAN’T STOP THE MUSIC.
Though never a household name, for several decades, Allan Carr was the ultimate, if unlikely, Hollywood insider and power player. He demonstrated a savvy sense of marketing, responsible for Oscar campaigns for well-respected films like THE DEER HUNTER, while also serving as talent manager and producer, reaping the sizeable benefits of properties like GREASE, and even Broadway hits like LA CAGE AUX FOLLES until bad decisions, most notably the infamously poorly received 1989 Academy Awards ceremony he produced, led to a carer freefall. With both humor and respect, Schwarz and an assemblage of famed collaborators and admirers entertaingly recount how the eccentric, effeminate Carr got into the business, initially through theatre and later television, and how he parlayed success in these endeavors to conquer Hollywood, benefitting from a penchant for self-promotion and throwing outlandish parties.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Festival:
The 25th anniversary Sheffield Doc/Fest
Dates:
June 7-12
About:
This British fest celebrates its quarter century edition with more than 100 new and recent feature documentaries. Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, June 5:
DEFINING HOPE
Director:
Carolyn Jones
Premiere:
Heartland 2017
About:
A look at palliative care in America.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Festival:
The 65th Sydney Film Festival
Dates:
June 6-17
About:
This long-running Australian event includes just over 60 new documentary features. Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, June 5:
COACH JAKE
Director:
ian Phillips
Premiere:
Urbanworld 2017
Select Festivals:
Heartland, Bushwick, Yonkers, Reel Recovery
About:
A portrait of NYC’s winningest coach as he contemplates mortality and his legacy.
Martin Jacobson, known affectionately by his soccer players at Manhattan’s Martin Luther King Jr High School as Coach Jake, joined the troubled school in 1994. During his long tenure he has logged more wins than any other high school soccer coach in the city. As recounted in Phillips primarily congratulatory profile, he did so after beating a decade-long addiction to heroin which left him with hepatitis C, seemingly replacing one addiction for the thrill of winning. As the affable but imperfect septuagenarian hopes to bring his latest team to the championships, he reflects on the good and bad parts of his life – from mentoring his largely immigrant-background players to perhaps dropping the ball with his own kids – and how he keeps on going.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to NYC’s Stranger Than Fiction tomorrow, Tuesday, June 5:
LOVE MEANS ZERO
Director:
Jason Kohn
Premiere:
Toronto 2017
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, IDFA, Hamptons, Camden, Philadelphia
About:
A portrait of an infamous and influential tennis coach who has trained champions, at a personal price.
The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Nick Bollettieri ran America’s most famous tennis academy, producing multiple champions including several who would become fierce rivals: Jim Courier, Andre Agassi, Boris Becker, and more. Was Bollettieri a genius or a tyrant, a father figure or a huckster? There are no simple answers. He’s been interviewed countless times and is always quick on his feet, ready for anything coming at him. But he meets his match in documentary maker Jason Kohn (Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury prize, MANDA BALA (SEND A BULLET)).
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
Coming to theatres today, Friday, June 1:
NOSSA CHAPE
Directors:
Jeff Zimbalist and Michael Zimbalist
Co-Director:
Julian Duque
Premiere:
SXSW 2018
Select Festivals:
Montclair, Kicking & Screening
About:
A Brazilian soccer club reckons with a devastating tragedy.
In 2016, the underdog Associação Chapecoense de Futebol was poised to put their small Brazilian city on the map, having experienced a record season and qualifying for the nation’s top-ranked division. But en route to Medellín, Colombia for an important match, their charter airplane crashed, killing 19 members of the team. With just three athletes surviving, and those with serious injuries, the club and its family members face an uncertain future. The Zimbalists and Duque follow their efforts to rebuild, bringing on a new coach who controversially wants to forge ahead, recruiting new players who don’t gel as well as the lost team, and following the physical and emotional aftermath of the survivors. Surviving athletes struggle through physical rehabilitation with the hope of playing again, as well as with survivor’s guilt, while family members seek compensation for the loss of their loved ones. While taking a fairly conventional approach to storytelling, the filmmakers are able to convey the deep sense of loss felt by the team and community, creating a welcome and impactful emotional resonance that lifts this above most standard sports docs.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
New to VOD this week:
WHITE BOY
Director:
Shawn Rech
Premiere:
Freep 2017
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC
About:
A portrait of an infamous and influential tennis coach who has trained champions, at a personal price.
The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Richard Wershe Jr, known as “White Boy Rick,” was a legend of Detroit’s drug world in the 1980s. As a white teenager alleged to be running an inner-city drug operation, he was irresistible to the media. Charged with a nonviolent juvenile offense in 1987, Wershe remains in prison at nearly 50 years old. Director Shawn Rech interviews gangsters, hit men, journalists, and federal agents who raise questions as to whether Wershe’s punishment fits his crimes in this compelling look at one man caught up in drug world legends and the criminal justice system.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
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