New to VOD this week:
RESET
Directors:
Thierry Demaizière and Alban Teurlai
Premiere:
French TV 2015
Select Festivals:
Tribeca, Sydney, Jerusalem, Melbourne, IDFA, Seattle, Vancouver
About:
A new director aims to shake up the Paris Opera Ballet.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
The 23rd edition of the Slamdance Film Festival runs this Friday, January 20 through next Thursday, January 26. The event offers just over two dozen features to compete with its higher-profile neighbor, Sundance, among them the below ten doc features:
Making their world premiere are: Cullen Hoback’s WHAT LIES UPSTREAM, following the filmmaker’s investigation into drinking water contamination; Stephen Richardson’s BOGALUSA CHARM, a portrait of a Louisiana charm school; Patricia Josefine Marchart’s THE CHILDREN SEND THEIR REGARDS (pictured), about now adult victims of clergy sexual abuse; Scott Drucker and Yu Gu’s WHO IS ARTHUR CHU?, a profile of a JEOPARDY winner-turned-cultural critic; Michael Rubenstone’s ON THE SLY: IN SEARCH OF THE FAMILY STONE, about the filmmaker’s ill-fated quest to track down the reclusive musician; and Stefan Avalos’ STRAD STYLE, which follows a man’s attempt to reproduce a Stradivari violin.
Charles Fairbanks and Saul Kak’s look at indigenous Oaxacan lives, THE MODERN JUNGLE (pictured), makes its North American premiere at the festival. US premieres include Matteo Borgardt’s YOU NEVER HAD IT: AN EVENING WITH BUKOWSKI, which repurposes a lost interview into a new portrait of the writer; and Pete Gleeson’s HOTEL COOLGARDIE, which follows the latest in a string of new young female bartenders in an Australian mining town. Finally, the festival also screens DOC NYC alum SUPERGIRL, Jesse Auritt’s portrait of an Orthodox Jewish teenage powerlifting champion.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to VOD this Sunday, January 21 and to DVD next Tuesday, January 24:
HIERONYMUS BOSCH: TOUCHED BY THE DEVIL
Director:
Pieter van Huystee
Premiere:
IDFA 2015
Select Festivals:
Sydney, Moscow, DOK.fest Munich, Festival dei Popoli, Docs Against Gravity
About:
A Dutch museum organizes a 500th anniversary exhibition of the work of the medieval painter.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
TIME: THE KALIEF BROWDER STORY
A preview of the first two episodes of the new Spike TV docuseries examining a case of wrongful incarceration.
Festival Section:
Special Events
Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
Coming to DVD next Tuesday, January 24:
(DIS)HONESTY – THE TRUTH ABOUT LIES
Director:
Yael Melamede
Premiere:
Full Frame 2015
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Montclair, Bentonville
About:
A consideration of the psychology behind deception.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
RISE
Three episodes of the new Viceland docuseries focusing on indigenous resistance.
Festival Section:
Special Events
Special Program:
The New Climate
Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens next Monday, June 23:
THE WITNESS
Director:
James Solomon
Premiere:
New York Film Festival 2015
Select Festivals:
Palm Springs, Big Sky, Boulder, Hong Kong, Sarasota, Atlanta
Notable Recognition:
The doc has been shortlisted for the Academy Awards.
About:
Kitty Genovese’s brother searches for the truth behind her notorious 1964 murder.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to HBO this coming Monday, June 23:
BEWARE THE SLENDERMAN
Director:
Irene Taylor Brodsky
Premiere:
SXSW 2016
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Nantucket, IDFA, Hot Docs, Montclair, Seattle, Docuwest, Fantasia, New Zealand, Melbourne
About:
An insidious Internet meme inspires a shocking murder attempt.
I previously wrote about the doc for Nantucket, saying:
Offering a sensitive investigation of a disturbing true-life crime, Irene Taylor Brodsky chronicles the 2014 case of a pair of 12-year-old Wisconsin girls who attempted to murder their friend to appease the Slenderman, an Internet bogeyman they were convinced otherwise would harm their families. In the wake of this strange crime, the girls’ parents and authorities try to make sense of this Web legend and how quickly and firmly it became cemented in the minds of impressionable young people. Eschewing sensationalism and facile answers, Brodsky tells a complex cautionary tale that questions how much parents truly know about what their kids do online.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, January 17:
HUNTWATCH
Director:
Brant Backlund
Premiere:
DOC NYC 2015
Select Festivals:
Santa Barbara, Sedona, Boulder, Newport Beach
About:
A man makes it his life’s work to save Arctic seals.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres this Friday, January 20 and to VOD next Friday, January 27:
THE SUNSHINE MAKERS
Director:
Cosmo Feilding Mellen
Premiere:
DOC NYC 2015
About:
A secret history of the popularization of LSD in 1960s America.
I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
A real-life BREAKING BAD for the psychedelic set, Cosmo Feilding Mellen reveals the entertaining, untold story of Nicholas Sand and Tim Scully, the unlikely duo at the heart of 1960s American drug counterculture. United in a utopian mission to save the planet through the consciousness-raising power of LSD, these underground chemists manufactured a massive amount of acid – including the gold standard for quality LSD, Orange Sunshine – as they tried to stay one step ahead of the feds.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
what (not) to doc 