2015 marks the 13th anniversary of Portugal’s premier documentary event, Doclisboa. Approximately 50 new documentary features, together with a large number of retrospective presentations, will screen between today, Thursday, October 22 and the fest’s wrap on Sunday, November 1. The following offers highlights of some of these offerings: Continue reading
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Doclisboa 2015 Overview
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Margaret Mead 2015 Overview
The American Museum of Natural History’s Margaret Mead Film Festival celebrates its 39th year of showcasing primarily ethnographic nonfiction for NYC audiences. The event kicks off tomorrow, Thursday, October 22 with Susan Gray and Linda Matchan’s portrait of the collaboration between indigenous Canadian and Guinean circuses, CIRCUS WITHOUT BORDERS; and closes on Sunday, October 25 with Daphne McWilliams’ consideration of the impact of absent fathers, IN A PERFECT WORLD…. These join nearly 30 other features, plus shorts and other programming, that make up this year’s lineup. Additional feature highlights are noted below: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
In Theatres: HEART OF A DOG
Coming to theatres today, Wednesday, October 21: HEART OF A DOG
Laurie Anderson’s meditation on life and loss premiered at Telluride. It has gone on to screen at Venice, Toronto, San Sebastian, New York, Adelaide, and Chicago.
Returning to film after nearly three decades, experimental performance artist/musician Anderson offers a surprisingly whimsical and sometimes hypnotic essay on mortality, inspired by her dearly departed rat terrier Lolabelle. While often focused on the dog, and Anderson’s maternal attachment to her, manifested most clearly in the retelling of a dream in which the artist gives birth to the canine, the film free associates, eschewing any discernible structure to instead move between this relationship to broader musings on loss and vulnerability, localized in a post 9/11 surveillance state, and into suggestive connections between the deaths of her mother and of her life partner, Lou Reed.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
NewFest 2015: Documentary Overview
The 27th edition of NewFest sees NYC’s LGBT film fest once again move around the calendar from its most recent July positioning to take place instead between tomorrow, Thursday, October 22 and Tuesday October 27. This year’s event presents more than a dozen feature documentaries among its 30+ features.
Among these are two films co-presented by DOC NYC: Marq Evans’ THE GLAMOUR & THE SQUALOR, about the influential 1990s Seattle DJ, Marco Collins; and Daniel F Cardone’s DESERT MIGRATION (pictured), on the intentional community HIV+ gay men have created in Palm Springs.
Other docs include: Nneka Onuorah’s THE SAME DIFFERENCE, an exploration of the complexity of African American lesbian identity; Michael Stabile’s SEED MONEY: THE CHUCK HOLMES STORY (pictured), about the man behind 1980s gay porn leader Falcon Studios; Jake Witzenfeld’s ORIENTED, a profile of gay Palestinians; Cesar Terranova’s GAZELLE: THE LOVE ISSUE, a portrait of an HIV+ NYC nightlife figure; and Swann Dubus and Tran Phuong Thao’s FINDING PHONG, which follows a Vietnamese trans woman’s journey over a year.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
On VOD: THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, October 20: THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
Avi Lewis’ attempt to shift the climate change paradigm had its world premiere at Toronto last month. It opened theatrically earlier this month after several special screenings, and now comes to VOD on iTunes via FilmBuff.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
On DVD: SEEDS OF TIME
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, October 20: SEEDS OF TIME
Sandy McLeod’s look at efforts to preserve biodiversity had its world premiere at SXSW last year. It has also screened at Berlin, CPH:DOX, Full Frame, Seattle, and environmental fests in San Francisco and Washington DC, among others.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
On VOD: ONE CUT, ONE LIFE
Coming to VOD tomorrow, Tuesday, October 20: ONE CUT, ONE LIFE
Lucia Small and Ed Pincus’ collaborative exploration of mortality had its world premiere at Full Frame last year. It went on to screen at IFF Boston, Woods Hole, Torino, and the New York Film Festival, among others. The doc now comes to VOD via iTunes.
I previously wrote about the film upon its theatrical release here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Special Screening: THE WANTED 18
Coming to NYC’s Stranger Than Fiction series tomorrow, Tuesday, October 20: THE WANTED 18
Amer Shomali and Paul Cowan’s look back at Israel’s crackdown on a herd of cows had its premiere at Toronto last year. It also screened at Abu Dhabi, Tallinn Black Nights, Thessaloniki Doc, and the Human Rights Watch fest, among others. The film is Palestine’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards.
I previously wrote about the film here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
On DVD: THE WOLFPACK
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, October 20: THE WOLFPACK
Crystal Moselle’s exploration of a family’s unusual upbringing had its world premiere at Sundance this year, where it won the US Documentary Grand Jury Prize. It went on to Nantucket, Cleveland, Full Frame, Sarasota, Tribeca, San Francisco, and Seattle. The film will screen as part of DOC NYC’s Short List next month.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
In Theatres: ALL THINGS MUST PASS
Coming to theatres today, Friday, October 16: ALL THINGS MUST PASS
Colin Hanks’ tribute to Tower Records had its world premiere at SXSW this Spring. It went on to screen at Seattle, AFI Docs, Sacramento, and Greenwich, among other events.
Opening by revealing that the retail giant made over a billion dollars just five years before it filed for bankruptcy, Hanks sets the stage for a rise and fall trajectory that will be of no surprise to anyone old enough to fondly remember a time when you couldn’t buy (or otherwise “find”) new music online. While the film indulges in a largely anecdote-driven history, delivered by Tower Records founder Russ Solomon and a large circle of past store clerks-turned-management, the history revealed here does double duty as that of the larger music industry and its shortsightedness in response to Napster and the digital music revolution. Focusing on the growth, mistakes, and eventual demise of Tower, and, significantly, the group of eccentrics that called the company home for nearly forty years, Hanks humanizes the faceless, corporate industry, and instead offers an intimate, and often quite poignant, reflection of a vastly different, if only relatively recently departed, era.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
what (not) to doc 