New to VOD this week: DON’T THINK I’VE FORGOTTEN: CAMBODIA’S LOST ROCK AND ROLL
John Pirozzi’s exhumation of Cambodia’s forgotten pop music debuted in Phnom Penh last year. It went on to screen at DOC NYC, Big Sky, Rotterdam, Reel Asian, CAMFest, DOXA, and Seattle, among others. The doc was released on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Instant, VUDU, Vimeo, and CinemaNow earlier this week.
I previously wrote about the film here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to NYC’s Rooftop Films tomorrow, Saturday, August 8: DIVINE LOCATION
Ulrike Franke and Michael Loeken’s subtle study of urban planning made its debut at DOK.fest Munich last year. Other screenings included Berlin, DocPoint Helsinki, Kassel Doc, and Duisburg Film Week.
Dortmund, the largest city in the Ruhr Area, has long been the seat of German industry, known for its coal mines and steel mills. In 2001, after Phoenix-East, one of the largest steelworks, shut down, plans began for the redevelopment of its site into luxury housing, centered around the construction of the new, man-made Phoenix Lake. Franke and Loeken chronicle this transformation over several years, while also witnessing the impact of this ambitious development on the working class neighborhood upon which it borders – an area which struggles to survive without the presence of its industrial base. While the real estate developers sit through marketing brainstorming sessions to best sell their future units to the right kind of clientele, current residents recognize the gentrification that’s coming their way. Through all this, the filmmakers maintain a tone of wry bemusement, managing to find moments of sheer absurdity, such as a heated battle over a massive remnant of the steelworks; an elaborate kick-off event presided over by Larry Hagman; and a meeting addressing the problem of geese attracted to the newly formed lake.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, August 7: HOMME LESS
Thomas Wirthensohn’s portrait of unexpected homelessness debuted at last year’s Film Festival Kitzbuehel, where it won the best doc award. It has gone on to screen at DOC NYC (where it won the Metropolis competition), DocAviv, Sarasota, and Hof.
I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
From all outside appearances, Mark seems to have the glamorous New York City life that many would envy. Handsome and always impeccably dressed, the charismatic former male model works as a fashion photographer, appears in movies, and attends the best parties. When he leaves those events, however, he heads to the East Village – not to an overpriced loft, but to a hidden corner of a rooftop to sleep each night. Thomas Wirthensohn exposes the dark underbelly of the American Dream in an often-merciless city.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, August 7: CALL ME LUCKY
Bobcat Goldthwait’s portrait of a comic turned unlikely activist debuted at Sundance earlier this year. It has gone on to screen at IFF Boston, Boulder, Montclair, and Cleveland, among others.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Now available on VOD: BENDING STEEL
David Carroll’s portrait of an aspiring strongman debuted at Tribeca in 2013. Its fest circuit also included Hot Docs, Rooftop Films, Woods Hole, Sidewalk, Calgary, Camden, Hot Springs Doc, Indie Memphis, Denver, Big Sky, RiverRun, Sebastopol Doc, and Belfast. Bond/360 now makes the film available on VOD platforms, including iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Instant Video, and VUDU.
I previously wrote about the doc out of Tribeca here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Now on DVD: HUMANITY FROM SPACE
Duncan Copp’s overview of mankind’s development from the perspective of space debuted on PBS last month.
Copp’s visually inventive film maps out humanity’s interconnectedness on the globe, utilizing satellite data to draw ever more complex links within and between nations and continents as it relates the story of the growth of civilization and its impact on the Earth. By design, attempting to cover 12,000 years results in a project that’s less comprehensive than it is big picture, eliding the messy particulars for more broad reflections on the past, present, and potential future of the planet. The film is also, on the whole, surprisingly – perhaps naively – optimistic. Despite touching on a swelling population, diminishing natural resources, and climate change, for example, there’s a somewhat blind trust that technological innovation will sort things out. Where Copp is more successful is in using the canvas of the globe to visualize concepts related to the growth of connectivity, such as the origins and development of the power grid; and in laying out some of the innovations that led to paradigmatic shifts in the development of civilizations, such as the shift from hunting-gathering to cultivating land, and the move of the world’s population from the country to the city. With its non-stop narration and surfeit of statistics, the ultimate impression left is of a very slick, very informative lecture – more educational than artful, but featuring some noteworthy graphics.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
The 68th edition of the Locarno Film Festival launches tonight, Wednesday, August 5, and will screen approximately 100 new feature films before it wraps on Saturday, August 15. Once again, the event has shown a welcome acceptance of nonfiction nearly on par with its fiction offerings, and includes more than forty new documentaries or hybrids in its line-up. As has been the custom for several years, these are integrated throughout nearly all of the various sections of the festival, with some highlights noted below: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, August 4: ANTARCTIC EDGE: 70° SOUTH
Dena Seidel’s exploration of climate change research made its debut at the Princeton Environmental Film Festival earlier this year. Other screenings included the International Wildlife and Minneapolis film fests before its theatrical release this past Spring.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, August 4: THE NIGHTMARE
Rodney Ascher’s unsettling look at the phenomenon of sleep paralysis had its world premiere at Sundance at the beginning of the year. Screenings followed at Hot Docs, SXSW, Seattle, and the Stanley Film Festival.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to PBS tonight, Tuesday, August 4: JFK & LBJ: A TIME FOR GREATNESS
Alastair Layzell’s re-examination of the civil rights legacy of Lyndon Baines Johnson debuted at the Annapolis Film Festival this Spring. It now makes it broadcast debut in commemoration of the 59th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.
Despite its title, Layzell’s film is overwhelmingly focused on Johnson, though the impact – and political opportunity – of Kennedy’s death is noted several times. Designed as a corrective of sorts to the 36th US President’s legacy, marred for many by his role in escalating the Vietnam War, the film instead focuses exclusively on Johnson’s political wherewithal to realize two instrumental pieces of civil rights legislation in the wake of Kennedy’s assassination – the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 – working against expectations given his Southern background, and using his powers of political negotiation, shrewd management of public outrage not only to JFK’s murder but to televised scenes of segregationist brutality in the south, and pointed personal signals that civil rights’ time had come – such as hiring Geraldine Whittington and the first African American secretary to the President, de facto desegregating a Texan whites-only club by insisting that Whittington accompany him, and incorporating the civil rights activism phrase “we shall overcome” into a televised speech before a joint session of Congress. The film is weakened significantly by the decision to employ thoroughly unnecessary scripted re-enactments at times, but otherwise succeeds in conveying LBJ’s significance in bringing change to racial inequality in America, and reminding viewers of the ongoing struggles against renewed voting suppression efforts in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling invalidating a key part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
what (not) to doc 