Author Archives: basiltsiokos

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About basiltsiokos

Basil Tsiokos is a Senior Programmer for the Sundance Film Festival, focusing on nonfiction features. He was most recently with DOC NYC for nearly a decade, where he served as Director of Programming since 2014, and with the Nantucket Film Festival as its Film Program Director. Prior to those positions, Basil was the longtime Artistic and Executive Director of NewFest. He has been affiliated with Sundance since 2005 as a Programming Associate. Basil serves on the feature nominating committees for the International Documentary Association Awards and Cinema Eye Honors. He has written about documentaries daily since 2010 on what (not) to doc. Basil holds a Masters degree from New York University and two undergraduate degrees from Stanford University.

SXSW 2017: Documentary Overview

sxsw-filmThis Friday, March 10 sees the opening of this year’s edition of SXSW, Austin TX’s popular film/interactive/music event. The film festival component, which runs through Saturday, March 18, offers approx 125 features, including new and retrospective work. Among these are more than 50 documentary features, appearing in the event’s various sections, with highlights noted below: Continue reading

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On DVD: NOTFILM

notfilm-image-beckettNew to DVD this week:
NOTFILM

Director:
Ross Lipman

Premiere:
BFI London 2015

Select Festivals:
CPH:DOX, Rotterdam, Hong Kong, Dublin, the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Film Comment Selects series, BAFICI.

About:
The story behind Samuel Beckett’s only film project, FILM.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

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On DVD: OKLAHOMA CITY

oklahoma cityComing to DVD today, Tuesday, March 7:
OKLAHOMA CITY

Director:
Barak Goodman

Premiere:
Sundance 2017

About:
A look back at the events which led to the 1995 terrorist bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building.

My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.

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On VOD: WE ARE X

we are xComing to VOD today, Tuesday, March 7:
WE ARE X

Director:
Stephen Kijak

Premiere:
Sundance 2016

Select Festivals:
SXSW, Vancouver, Seattle, BFI London, Shanghai, Guanajuato, IDFA

About:
A profile of Japanese super band X Japan and its charismatic frontman, Yoshiki X.

My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.

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On DVD/VOD: THE C WORD

THECWORD-KEY-01Coming to DVD and VOD today, Tuesday, March 7:
THE C WORD

Director:
Meghan O’Hara

Premiere:
Hamptons 2015

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Cleveland, Martha’s Vineyard, Napa Valley, Traverse City, Newport

About:
A personal battle with cancer prompts a reconsideration of the way Western society approaches the disease.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

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Special Screening: I CALLED HIM MORGAN

i called him morganComing to NYC’s Stranger Than Fiction series tomorrow, Tuesday, March 7:
I CALLED HIM MORGAN

Director:
Kasper Collin

Premiere:
Venice 2016

Select Festivals:
Toronto, Telluride, New York, London, Vancouver, Mumbai, Philadelphia, In-Edit, Stockholm, Palm Springs, Thessaloniki Doc, Tempo Doc, CPH:DOX

About:
The story of the ultimately ill-fated relationship between jazz musician Lee Morgan and his common-law wife Helen.

Recognized as a legend among jazz cognoscenti, Morgan’s early death cost him more widespread popular recognition. Collin’s film aims to pay the trumpeter his due, laying out his history and accomplishments, including touring with Dizzy Gillespie and Art Blakey, while also exploring the darker side of the life of a performer – in this case a long struggle with cocaine addiction that nearly cost him his career. What allows this portrait to transcend the conventional beats of the musician bio doc, however, is in Collin’s focus on Morgan’s relationship with Helen, represented here in an interview recorded in 1996, a month before her death. Aided by a thoughtful, atmospheric production design, and, of course, Morgan’s music, what emerges is an engrossing, intriguing tale that transports the viewer back to Morgan and Ruth’s milieu of New York City jazz clubs in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Even as Ruth’s support enabled Morgan to beat his addiction and make a successful comeback, she ultimately took his life, shooting the 33-year-old while he was performing at an East Village jazz club in February 1972.

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One World 2017 Overview

oneworld_posThe 19th edition of Prague’s One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival kicks off today, Monday, March 6 and runs through Wednesday, March 15. Over 100 new and recent documentary features will screen at the event, with some highlights noted below:

humanityAmong the titles in the Czech Competition are: Zuzana Piussi’s CZECH ALLAH, on Czech society’s response to Islam and the migrant crisis; Tomáš Kudrna’s IDA’S IDEA, about a woman’s Roma children’s choir; and Eva Tomanová’s I WON’T SELL MY SOUL, which explores the controversy of child surrogacy in the Czech Republic. Meanwhile, the International Competition includes such films as: Alexandre Dereims’ WE ARE HUMANITY (pictured), about the struggles of the indigenous people of a remote Indian Ocean island; Petr Lom’s BURMA STORYBOOK, on a Burmese dissident poet; and Marc Silver’s TO END A WAR, a candid look at the hardfought Colombian peace process. And the Right to Know competition features work like: Mina Keshavarz’s BRAVING THE WAVES, about an entrepreneurial Iranian woman as she faces off against local authorities; Roser Corella’s GRAB AND RUN, which explores the Kyrgyz custom of bride kidnapping; and Elina Hirvonen’s BOILING POINT, on the rise of fascistic nationalists in modern Finland.

thecoloursfilmThe festival’s many noncompetitive strands explore the migrant crisis in Dreams of Europe, with films like Pia Lenz’s I’M OKAY, which looks at two foreign youth trying to adjust to life in Germany; normalcy and difference in Who is Normal Here?, in docs including Maria Teresa Larraín’s SHADOW GIRL, following the filmmaker back to her native Chile as she loses her eyesight; the role of family, in Family Happiness, through Jasna Krajinovic’s THE EMPTY ROOM, about the family of a radicalized Belgian Muslim; society and environment, in So-Called Civilzation, with films like Fredrik Oskarsson’s NUCLEAR NEIGHBOUR, which follows a young mother’s transformation into an anti-nuclear power activist; urban space, in Faces of the City, through Anders Eklund’s GAMING THE REAL WORLD, which explores a Swedish city’s use of Minecraft to encourage participatory urban planning; media in the Power of the Media; with Hans Busstra’s CYBERJIHAD, exploring virtual world techniques used by terrorist groups; and social upheaval in Journeys to Freedom, including Alistair Cole’s COLOURS OF THE ALPHABET, which looks at the problems resulting from schooling not being done in students’ native language.

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On TV: THE MUSIC OF STRANGERS

3lVpPx_musicofstrangers_01_o3_8728480_1439322355_720_370_90Coming to HBO tonight, Monday, March 6:
THE MUSIC OF STRANGERS: YO YO MA & THE SILK ROAD ENSEMBLE

Director:
Morgan Neville

Premiere:
Toronto 2015

Select Festivals:
Berlin, True/False, San Francisco, Montclair, DocAviv, Los Angeles, Sydney, Provincetown, Biografilm

About:
A profile of the acclaimed cellist and the collective of international musicians he founded to explore crosscultural creativity.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

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Online: LONG LIVE BENJAMIN

long_live_benjaminNow available on the New York Times as part of their Op-Docs:
LONG LIVE BENJAMIN

Directors:
Jimm Lasser and Biff Butler

Premiere:
DOC NYC 2016

Select Festivals:
IDFA

About:
A poignant and funny six-part docuseries about a man and his monkey.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC, saying:
While visiting his wife’s homeland of Venezuela in 1997, noted portrait artist Allen Hirsch unexpectedly fell in love. The object of his affection? A deathly ill, orphaned newborn Capuchin monkey named Benjamin. Nursing Benjamin back to health and sneaking him into New York City, Allen would find his life – and his sense of self – forever changed by his adopted simian son.

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Tempo Documentary Festival 2017 Overview

The 18th edition of Sweden’s largest nonfiction event, Tempo Documentary Festival, takes place this coming Monday, March 6 through Sunday, March 12. The fest brings more than 100 creative docs to Swedish audiences, largely curating an impressive selection of favorites from other international events, but also showcasing local work and other under-the-radar projects, including the work noted below. Continue reading

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