DINA
Dan Sickles and Antonio Santini profile an unforgettable woman as she seeks to realize her desires.
Festival Section:
US Documentary Competition
Continue reading
Author Archives: basiltsiokos
2017 Sundance Docs in Focus: DINA
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
2017 Sundance Docs in Focus: CITY OF GHOSTS
CITY OF GHOSTS
Matthew Heineman captures a courageous group of citizen journalists and their struggle to expose the truth behind ISIS.
Festival Section:
US Documentary Competition
Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
On TV: EERO SAARINEN: THE ARCHITECT WHO SAW THE FUTURE
Coming to PBS’s American Masters tonight, Tuesday, December 27: EERO SAARINEN: THE ARCHITECT WHO SAW THE FUTURE
Peter Rosen’s look at the life and work of the visionary architect debuted at NYC’s Architecture & Design Film Festival this Fall. It now comes to TV as the finale of the PBS program’s 30th season.
The viewer’s guide through Saarinen’s legendary designs is his son, Eric Saarinen, the film’s director of photography and co-producer. Still seeking closure from his father’s premature death at the age of 51, Eric visits several of his father’s projects, from the Gateway Arch and TWA Flight Center to the General Motors Technical Center and Yale’s Ingalls Rink, as he reveals more personal details of his father’s impact on his family. Already placing his wife and children secondary to his career, Eero abandoned them following a love affair with Aline Louchheim, an art critic for the New York Times who became a champion of his work. While Eric’s difficult relationship with his father parallels Eero’s own complicated, competitive relationship with his own father, accomplished architect Eliel Saarinen, the film’s slight running time unfortunately doesn’t permit an extended exploration of this intriguing theme, subordinating the personal to a too-quick, and somewhat surface-level, survey of Eero’s work, which remains, despite this, compelling in its break from modernist convention.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
2017 Sundance Docs in Focus: CHASING CORAL
CHASING CORAL
Jeff Orlowski races to capture the climate change-driven destruction of the planet’s lifegiving coral reefs.
Festival Section:
US Documentary Competition
Special Program:
The New Climate
Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
2017 Sundance Docs in Focus: CASTING JONBENET
CASTING JONBENET
Kitty Green’s hybrid explores the 1996 murder of the child beauty pageant winner from the perspectives of the local community.
Festival Section:
US Documentary Competition
Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
On TV: EVERY BRILLIANT THING
Coming to HBO tonight Monday, December 26: EVERY BRILLIANT THING
Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey’s filmed version of Jonny Donahoe and Duncan Macmillan’s acclaimed and life-affirming fictional stage show made its debut at DOC NYC last month.
I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC, saying:
When he is only seven years old, a young boy’s mother attempts suicide for the first time. He responds the only way he knows how: he begins an enumerated list of “brilliant things” worth living for, from “things with stripes” to “water fights.” As he grows, so does the list, following him through subsequent suicide attempts by his mother as well as pivotal moments in his own life, and culminating in its development into a poignant and very funny one-man show featuring creative audience participation.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
2017 Sundance Docs in Focus
The Sundance Film Festival’s 33rd edition takes place next month, running January 19-29, with a lineup consisting of 118 features, 68 shorts, 11 installations/performances, and 16 VR experiences. Since the 2011 festival, I’ve profiled the feature documentary programming in advance of the festival, offering background about the exciting new crop of films. The 2017 lineup focus commences tomorrow, beginning with the US Documentary Competition, and will continue film-by-film, section-by-section, until I’ve covered the approximately 50 nonfiction titles, concluding right before the festival begins.
Given my role as Documentary Programming Associate for Sundance, please note that these profiles are not reviews – instead, they simply include select background, noting past Sundance projects where applicable, and reasons why readers should seek the films out, either in Park City during the festival or later in the year at other upcoming festivals and/or ijn release. For a sample, check out last year’s series, which began here.
I’ve also prepared a new Twitter list to give readers a look at the festival through the eyes of the Sundance 2017 films.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations, Sundance
On TV: MEET THE PATELS
Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens this coming Monday, December 26: MEET THE PATELS
Geeta V Patel and Ravi V Patel’s comic doc about love and a South Asian-American family debuted at Hot Docs in 2014. Its fest circuit also included DOC NYC, Los Angeles, Traverse City, Hamptons, San Diego Asian, Dubai, Bentonville, Seattle, and Sydney, among other events.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
In Theatres: THE BAD KIDS
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, December 23: THE BAD KIDS
Keith Fulton and Lou Pepe’s look at troubled youths’ last chance for high school debuted at Sundance this year, where it won a special jury award. It went on to screen at True/False, Cleveland, Full Frame, Dallas, Visions du Réel, Hot Docs, DocAviv, and Atlantic, among other events.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
On DVD: HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT
New to DVD this week: HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT
Kent Jones’ chronicle of the meeting between the auteur and the cineaste had its world premiere at Cannes last year. Screenings followed at DOC NYC, Telluride, Deauville, Toronto, San Sebastian, London, Mill Valley, Tallgrass, Chicago, AFI Fest, Tallinn Black Nights, and Denver, among others.
I previously wrote about the doc here,
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
what (not) to doc 