Coming to DVD and VOD today, Tuesday, April 26: PACKED IN A TRUNK: THE LOST ART OF EDITH LAKE WILKINSON
Michelle Boyaner’s rediscovery of a lost artist debuted at Palm Springs last year. it went on to screen at Provincetown, Frameline, and LGBT fests in Halifax, Kansas City, and Portland, before being broadcast on HBO last Summer.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to PBS’s America ReFramed tonight, Tuesday, April 26: IN AN IDEAL WORLD
Noel Schwerin’s look at racial divisions in prison debuted at the Washington DC Independent Film Festival last year. Additional screenings included San Luis Obispo, Ojai, Harlem, Hoboken, Breckenridge, San Francisco Black, and Chicago’s Social Change fests.
Filmed over seven years, Schwerin’s project looks at institutionalized racial segregation through the experiences of three men in northern California’s Soledad Prison: Warden Ben Curry and two prisoners – Sam Lewis, who is black, and John Piccirillo, who is white. While segregation has been encouraged as a means to maintain order in an often dangerous environment, separating African American, Latino, and white prisoners into self-policing subgroups with their own codes of conduct, it has also encouraged the spread of white supremacist ideology and racially motivated violence and tension. Facing federal pressure to reform prison segregation policies, Warden Curry begins an anti-violence program that affords inmates like Lewis and Piccirillo the opportunity to cross racial lines and share their experiences in the prison system, and hopes for its change. While presenting a sobering message on the systemic challenges facing America’s correctional institutions, Schwerin’s film ultimately offers a redemptive perspective.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to NYC’s Stranger Than Fiction tomorrow, Tuesday, April 26: TREMBLING BEFORE G-D
Sandi DuBowski’s landmark look at the lives of lesbian and gay ultra-orthodox Jews had its world premiere at Sundance in 2001. It screened the festival circuit extensively, including Berlin, Karlovy Vary, Chicago, Busan, Krakow, and LGBT festivals pretty much everywhere. STF presents the film upon its 15th anniversary, and includes a Q&A with DuBowski and several subjects from the film.
Filming over five years, DuBowski profiles the deep-seated conflict between sexuality and religion by focusing on the struggles faced by Hasidic and Orthodox Jews to reconcile queerness within the strict tenets of their faith. Offering an unprecedented look at a subculture veiled in secrecy – so much so, that some interview subjects here are presented in silhouette only – this insightful film proved fascinating in its consideration of how some have been able to balance seemingly incongruous elements of their lives. DuBowski tirelessly travelled with the film for several years, engaging in post-screening Q&As and panels, attempting to begin and keep a dialogue going about the issues it raised. Far from preaching to the converted, the doc is able to bridge a divide between LGBT and non-LGBT audiences, powerfully showing the deep-seated internal conflict that DuBowski’s protagonists face, and the need for re-examination and acceptance.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
Coming to NYC’s Metrograph tonight, Monday, April 25: THEORY OF OBSCURITY: A FILM ABOUT THE RESIDENTS
Don Hardy’s exploration of the legendary art/music collective debuted at SXSW last year. It went on to screen at DOC NYC, BAFICI, Indielisboa, San Francisco, IFF Boston, DOXA, Melbourne, Revelation, Portland, Sydney Underground, and Cucalorus, among several others. This screening is in conjunction with a tour by The Residents, which includes NYC’s Gramercy Theater tomorrow evening.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to VOD today, Friday, April 22: CATCHING THE SUN
Shalini Kantayya’s look at initiatives to expand solar energy had its world premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival last Summer. Screenings followed at Big Sky, Washington DC’s Environmental, San Francisco Green, Twin Cities, and Australia’s Transitions, among others. It now comes to Netflix, appropriately enough on Earth Day.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to Discovery Channel as part of its Elevation Weekend series tomorrow, Saturday, April 23: SHERPA
Jennifer Peedom’s look at the response to Mount Everest’s deadliest tragedy premiered at Sydney last year. It went on to screen at Telluride, Toronto, Melbourne, Aspen, Palm Springs, Adelaide, Washington DC’s Environmental, New Zealand, Dubai, Rocky Mountain Women’s and London fests, among others.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to HBO this coming Monday, April 25: HEART OF A DOG
Laurie Anderson’s meditation on the meaning of life and death had its debut at Telluride last year. Its festival circuit has also included Venice, Toronto, San Sebastian, New York, Adelaide, Dublin, Rotterdam, San Francisco, Leeds, and Chicago. The film was shortlisted for the Best Documentary Feature of 2015.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, April 22: HOCKNEY
Randall Wright’s portrait of the influential British artist made its debut at BFI London in 2014. The film went on to screen at BAFICI, Doc Aviv, Minneapolis St Paul, Brighton, Vancouver, Palm Springs, and St Louis, among other events.
Gaining access to the somewhat reclusive septuagenarian and to his extensive personal archive, Wright constructs an engaging biography of the artist. Introducing viewers to family and close friends, the film traces the artist’s roots in working class Bradford, England, his early forays into artistic expression, and his blossoming after he relocated to Los Angeles in the 1960s. In addition to sharing anecdotes about his life, they offer enjoyable anecdotes and behind-the-scenes observations about the origins of some of his famed paintings. For his part, Hockney not only offers compelling insight about his approach to time and space in his paintings, but also demonstrates surprising candor about his personal life, reflecting on his experiences as a gay man as AIDS ravaged the community in the 1980s.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
The San Francisco International Film Festival, the nation’s longest-running film festival, celebrates its 59th year starting tonight, Thursday, April 21. Almost 100 new feature films, among them approximately 40 documentaries, will be presented before the event wraps on Thursday, May 5 with a screening of Jesse Moss’ THE BANDIT, a love letter to Burt Reynolds’ SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT. Other nonfiction on offer follows: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
New to DVD/VOD: ART HOUSE
Don Freeman’s exploration of a number of artists’ houses premiered at a standalone screening in New Jersey in 2014. Other screenings have included Palm Beach, Newport Beach, and the Milan Design fests.
Photographer turned filmmaker Freeman profiles nearly a dozen “handmade” homes, dwellings that reflect their artists’ or designers’ aesthetics and which were often slowly built over the course of several years, in contrast to industrialized, cookie-cutter assemblages. The well-shot film is meant to be a celebration of this inventive, individualized approach to architecture, but despite showcasing a range of often fascinating homes, including Frederic Church’s Olana, Paolo Soleri’s Cosanti, and Byrdcliffe Arts Colony, Freeman’s approach feels like a series of excruciatingly slow slideshows for Architectural Digest more than a holistic longform documentary, made even more challenging for general audiences to watch due to its intrusive, off-putting score.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases, Uncategorized
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