Author Archives: basiltsiokos

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, December 5:
KARL MARX CITY

Directors:
Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker

Premiere:
Toronto 2016

Select Festivals:
New York, Chicago, Stockholm, Palm Springs, Guadalajara, CPH:DOX, Movies That Matter, Indielisboa, Docaviv, Durban

About:
A personal exploration of the legacy of the East German surveillance state.

The setting of this well-observed essay film is the city of Chemnitz, renamed Karl-Marx-Stadt during the decades of the GDR, and director Epperlein’s hometown. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the filmmaker moved to the states. Ten years later, her father committed suicide, perhaps as a response to threatening anonymous letters he received. Faced with the possibility that her father might have somehow been involved in the deep-rooted web of surveillance and informants controlled by the Stasi, the East German state security system, Epperlein begins an investigation, and, perhaps, a hoped-for exoneration. In addition to interviewing family members about her father, the filmmaker visits the Stasi archive, and, most strikingly, makes extensive use of surveillance footage the Stasi or their informants shot – banal in its content, but panoptic evidence of their oppressive control of society. Adopting the austere look of these quotidian recordings and the paranoid feel of of an espionage thriller, the film proves compellingly disturbing and surprisingly topical, despite its Cold War setting.

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, December 5:
THE UNTOLD TALES OF ARMISTEAD MAUPIN

Director:
Jennifer M Kroot

Co-Director:
Bill Weber

Premiere:
SXSW 2017

Select Festivals:
Cleveland, DOXA, Ashland, Nashville, Montclair, Martha’s Vineyard, Oxford, Provicnetown, Galway, Frameline, Outfest, LGBT fests in Boston, Tel Aviv, San Diego, Vancouver, Hong Kong

About:
On the life and work of the acclaimed author of the TALES OF THE CITY series.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, December 5:
A GRAY STATE

Director:
Erik Nelson

Premiere:
Tribeca 2017

Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Hot Springs Doc, Poland’s American Film Festival, Stockholm, Milwaukee, Melbourne

About:
An investigation into the seemingly suspicious death of a right-wing filmmaker.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, December 5:
SANTOALLA

Directors:
Andrew Becker and Daniel Mehrer

Premiere:
Edinburgh 2016

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Hamptons, IDFA, Cleveland, BAFICI, Austin, Thessaloniki Doc, Big Sky Doc, Krakow

About:
Neighbors in a remote idyllic community face off with dire consequences.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to theatres today, Friday, December 1:
BIG TIME

Director:
Kaspar Astrup Schröder

Premiere:
Copenhagen Architecture Festival 2017

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Vancouver, Chicago, Sydney, Melbourne, Milano Design

About:
A portrait of a renowned Danish architect as he embarks on a high profile project in NYC.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
Architect Bjarke Ingels made a name for himself and for his design firm BIG in his native Denmark, winning international acclaim for his bold, untraditional designs. Director Kaspar Astrup Schröder follows Ingels over six years as he takes on his largest project yet, relocating to New York City to create the new 2 World Trade Center. His insightful film looks at how the maverick genius balances his professional ambition and personal life when given the chance to change the city’s iconic skyline.

Coming to DVD today, Friday, December 1:
EAGLES OF DEATH METAL: NOS AMIS (OUR FRIENDS)

Director:
Colin Hanks

Premiere:
Palm Springs 2017

Select Festivals:
Docaviv, Chagrin Doc, Haugesund, In-Edit

About:
The band returns to Paris just months after the 2015 terrorist attack at their concert which cost 89 people their lives.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to theatres and to Netflix tomorrow, Friday, December 1:
VOYEUR

Directors:
Myles Kane and Josh Koury

Premiere:
New York Film Festival 2017

About:
Acclaimed journalist Gay Talese completes a long-gestating book on a motel owner who spied on his guests.

After the publication of his controversial 1981 book on free love, THY NEIGHBOR’S WIFE, Talese was contacted by Gerald Foos, a would-be Kinsey who used his Colorado motel to conduct his research clandestinely. While Foos happily allowed Talese to visit and witness his work, he was not willing to have his identity revealed in print. The writer kept up a regular correspondence with the motel owner while shelving the idea for a story for decades. As Kane and Koury’s film picks up, Foos finally comes clean, having sold off the motel and being seemingly eager to be in the spotlight – at least initially. After a provocative excerpt of the book appears in The New Yorker, Foos has second thoughts, far too late, and his – and Talese’s – problems only deepen once the book is published. Though Talese made use of copious notes kept by Foos during his nocturnal peeping, the veracity of his story is called into question, leading to a publicity nightmare that threatens to ruin the author’s reputation. The filmmakers, finding themselves uniquely positioned as voyeurs to the unfolding tragicomedy, chronicle the fall out in this fascinating, disturbing portrait.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, December 1:
SHADOWMAN

Director:
Oren Jacoby

Premiere:
Tribeca 2017

Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Stockholm, Virginia, Vancouver, Poland’s American Film Festival

About:
A once-celebrated but long out-of-the-spotlight contemporary artist emerges from the shadows.

I previously wrote about the doc for Nantucket’s program, saying:
Before Banksy, there was Richard Hambleton. A pioneer of street art, the painter took the early 1980s New York City art scene by storm alongside contemporaries like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, painting black silhouettes around the city in the dead of night. But at the height of his fame, Hambleton succumbed to personal demons and vanished. Rediscovered decades later, he stands on the brink of a comeback – director Oren Jacoby chronicles the difficulties that the troubled artist faces despite this potential second chance.