Author Archives: basiltsiokos

Coming to theatres today, Friday, October 6 and to PBS’s POV this coming Monday, October 9:
THE ISLANDS AND THE WHALES

Director:
Mike Day

Premiere:
Hot Docs 2016

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, San Francisco, Edinburgh, Wild & Scenic, Big Sky Doc, Leeds, St Louis, Princeton Environmental, Zurich

About:
An island community reckons with the upending of long-held traditions.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
In the remote Faroe Islands, an archipelago located halfway between Norway and Iceland, inhabitants have been in tune with their environment for millennia. With a rugged landscape not suited for farming, they have relied on the sea for their survival, enjoying a traditional diet of seabirds, pilot whales, and fish. When they are faced with rising mercury levels in their food, as well as the clamor of international animal-rights activists, the Faroese may be forced to change their ancient ways.

Coming to theatres and to Netflix tomorrow, Friday, October 6:
THE DEATH AND LIFE OF MARSHA P JOHNSON

Director:
David France

Premiere:
Tribeca 2017

Select Festivals:
Sheffield, Traverse City, Melbourne, Seattle, Montclair, Frameline, Outfest, Provincetown, Inside Out, LGBT fests in Portland, Halifax, Barcelona, Seoul, Dublin, Glasgow, Vancouver, Honolulu, Austin, Oslo, Sydney, Chicago

About:
A tribute to a pioneering African American transgender activist, who died in 1992 under mysterious circumstances.

Marsha P Johnson – the P stood for “Pay no mind,” according to the outspoken figure – was a veteran of Stonewall and a familiar presence in Greenwich Village for decades before her body was found in the Hudson River near the Christopher St piers. Traditionally dismissive if not outright hostile to the city’s queer population, particularly trans people, the police hastily deemed Johnson a suicide and declined to investigate further. Decades later, Victoria Cruz, an activist with the Anti-Violence Project, decides to explore the case on her own, seeking justice long deferred for this under-acknowledged community leader. As Cruz speaks to Johnson’s old friends, her story is but one of several that emerge in this sensitively crafted film that speak to a history of inequity and violence being visited upon trans people, especially trans people of color, including the legendary Sylvia Rivera, as well as Islan Nettles, who was murdered in 2016.

Coming to theatres today, Wednesday, October 4:
CHAVELA

Directors:
Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi

Premiere:
Berlin 2017

Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Hot Docs, Sheffield, AFI Docs, Provincetown, Guadalajara, Malaga, Ambulante, BAFICI, Montclair, Seattle, Krakow, Transylvania, Sydney, Galway, Frameline, Outfest, Inside Out, LGBT fests in Milan, Barcelona, Austin, Palm Springs, Chicago

About:
A portrait of an iconic Latin American singer.

I previously wrote about the doc for Nantucket’s program, saying:
Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi pay loving tribute to Chavela Vargas, a figure legendary throughout Latin America for her breathtaking romantic songs, who found more widespread fame by being showcased in the films of Pedro Almodóvar. Adopting masculine attire and performing songs typically reserved for men, she was an iconoclast in a traditionally macho culture, both on stage and off – as evidenced by her passionate love affairs with women like Frida Kahlo and Ava Gardner.