Festival:
The 5th annual Art of the Real
Dates:
April 26-May 6
About:
Twenty new features are included in the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s annual showcase of innovative documentary and hybrid storytelling. Continue reading
Author Archives: basiltsiokos
Art of the Real 2018 Overview
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
On TV: THROUGH THE REPELLENT FENCE
Coming to PBS’s America ReFramed tonight, Tuesday, April 24:
THROUGH THE REPELLENT FENCE
Director:
Sam Wainwright Douglas
Premiere:
Documentary Fortnight 2017
Select Festivals:
SXSW, Full Frame, Sarasota, Montclair
About:
A collective of Native American artists install a work of land art on both sides of the US/Mexico border.
Douglas’ film charts the creative process of the artist collective, Postcommodity, and the eventual installation of their project, known as “Repellent Fence.” The piece employs two dozen linked, inflated spheres top temporarily conceptually “suture” the border over which they hover, serving as a political statement about present-day barriers, while also speaking to erased indigenous history about the cultures who once occupied the land before borders were drawn. Somewhat awkwardly woven within Postcommodity’s story is a small survey of other land art examples, which feels like it’s just padding out the proceedings.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
On DVD: DO NOT RESIST
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, April 24:
DO NOT RESIST
Director:
Craig Atkinson
Premiere:
Tribeca 2016
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Traverse City, AFI Docs, DOXA, Human Rights Watch, Telluride Mountainfilm, Bergen, Zurich, Dokufest, Camden
About:
An exploration of the militarization of America’s police force.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
On VOD: 44 PAGES
Coming to VOD tomorrow, Tuesday, April 24:
44 PAGES
Director:
Tony Shaff
Premiere:
SXSW Edu 2017
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Dallas, Sarasota, Cleveland, RiverRun, Nashville, Sidewalk, Indie Memphis, St Louis,
About:
A behind the scenes look at the most popular children’s magazine in the world.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
On DVD: BILL NYE: SCIENCE GUY
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, April 24:
BILL NYE: SCIENCE GUY
Directors:
David Alvarado and Jason Sussberg
Premiere:
SXSW 2017
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, San Francisco, Hot Docs, Telluride Mountainfilm, Seattle, Human Rights Watch, AFI Docs, Hot Springs Doc, Traverse City, Los Angeles, Provincetown
About:
A revealing profile of the well-known educational television personality turned science advocate.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
On TV: LOOK & SEE: A PORTRAIT OF WENDELL BERRY
Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens this coming Monday, April 23:
LOOK & SEE: A PORTRAIT OF WENDELL BERRY
Director:
Laura Dunn
Co-Director:
Jef Sewell
Premiere:
SXSW 2016 (earlier version titled THE SEER)
Select Festivals:
Sundance, Nantucket, Hot Docs, Montclair, Berlin, Nashville, RiverRun
About:
A profile of the outspoken author and environmentalist through his immediate surroundings.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
On TV: INTENT TO DESTROY
Coming to Starz this Monday, April 23:
INTENT TO DESTROY
Director:
Joe Berlinger
Premiere:
Tribeca 2017
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, IDFA, Krakow, Maryland, St Louis, IFF Boston, San Francisco Jewish, New Zealand, Haifa, Heartland, Denver
About:
A behind-the-scenes look at the making of a narrative feature about the 1915-1918 Armenian genocide.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
In Theatres: AFTER AUSCHWITZ
Coming to NYC theatres tomorrow, Friday, April 20:
AFTER AUSCHWITZ
Director:
Jon Kean
Premiere:
Chapman University (September 2016)
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Los Angeles Jewish, Warsaw Jewish
About:
Six Holocaust survivors share stories of life after the death camp.
I previously wrote about the doc for Nantucket’s program, saying:
Jon Kean’s SWIMMING IN AUSCHWITZ related the stories of six European women who faced the horrors of the Third Reich but managed to survive. His follow-up focuses on these same courageous Holocaust survivors, who detail what happened after they were liberated from Auschwitz-Birkenau in January 1945. With no homes or families left in Europe, they forged a new path, emigrating to America to begin anew, and eventually confronting the tragic past they long kept buried.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Special Screening: HAIKU ON A PLUM TREE
Coming to NYC’s Stranger Than Fiction tonight, Thursday, April 19:
HAIKU ON A PLUM TREE
Director:
Mujah Maraini-Melehi
Premiere:
Rome 2016
Select Festivals:
Biografilm
About:
The filmmaker’s personal reflection on her grandparent’s imprisonment in Japan during WWII.
Maraini-Melehi’s maternal grandparents, Fosco and Topazia relocated from Italy to Japan in 1938. Living there as the world plunged into war, their loyalty to the Axis powers was demanded. When they refused to declare their allegiance, they and their children were placed in an internment camp for the duration, leaving lasting trauma which the filmmaker seeks to explore in her recounting. While she employs some creative animation and particularly benefits from Japanese dogugaeshi puppetry by the acclaimed Basil Twist, the material is too often far too specific, personal, and slowly paced to prove wholly engaging.
Filed under Documentary, Film
On DVD: KILLING FOR LOVE
New to DVD this week:
KILLING FOR LOVE
Directors:
Marcus Vetter and Karin Steinberger
Premiere:
Munich 2016
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, IDFA, Denver, RiverRun, Virginia, DocsDF, DMZ Docs, Docs Barcelona, Docaviv, Reykjavik, Durban, Krakow, Doc Edge, Docs Against Gravity, Turkey
About:
A brutal double homicide reveals secrets, lies, and the limits of the American justice system.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
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