Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, June 9: FAREWELL HERR SCHWARZ
Yael Reuveny’s exploration of family secrets premiered at Haifa in 2013. It went on to screen at DOK Leipzig, Cottbus, and at the Miami, Toronto, and Palm Beach Jewish fests, among others.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to cable network Fusion and to VOD today, Monday, June 8: EXTINCTION SOUP
Philip Waller’s personal quest to help the world’s shark population debuted at the San Francisco International Ocean Film Festival last year. Since then, aside from Am Docs, the film has largely screened in smaller environmentally-themed and doc fests. Its release today coincides with Wold Oceans Day.
In a remarkably extended and overly conversational narration, Waller relates his past as a former child actor facing post-career doldrums, and how he stumbled into surfing and filmmaking. Continuing this irksome meta-filmmaking preamble, he explains that his original goal was to make a film about his friend Jimmy Hall, an extreme sports fanatic who turned his love of tiger sharks into a business giving shark tours. After Hall’s accidental death BASE jumping, Waller finally gets to the crux of his film’s thesis by deciding to focus on Hall’s bereaved girlfriend, Stefanie Brendl, and her efforts to get legislation passed to help halt the hunting of sharks for their fins. This practice has skyrocketed in recent years thanks in large part to an increase in demand for shark fin soup – associated with luxury and opulence – by the burgeoning Chinese economy, and as a result has decimated the shark population so dramatically that there are legitimate fears of extinction. Traveling back and forth between California and Hawaii, Waller follows Brendl as she assists in a not completely explained manner with lobbying efforts to ban shark fin possession, a measure that ultimately passes and begins to spread to other parts of the world. Despite his best intentions – and aspirations of creating the next BLACKFISH or THE COVE – Waller makes the fundamental mistake too many neophyte filmmakers do in thinking that the making of their film is the story that should be on the screen. Even if one were generously to forgive that essential error, what’s left – watching legislation pass, second hand – is not particularly engaging, despite Waller and Brendl’s impassioned efforts.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, June 9: RICH HILL
Tracy Droz Tragos and Andrew Droz Palermo’s portrait of adolescence in a poor community won the US Documentary Grand Jury Prize upon its debut at Sundance last year. Other festival berths included DOC NYC, Nantucket, True/False, Dallas, Cleveland, Sarasota, and Ashland, among several others.
I previously profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to DVD this coming Tuesday, June 9: RED ARMY
Gabe Polsky’s exploration of Cold War politics through the USSR’s ice hockey team had its world premiere at Cannes last year. Festival screenings followed at Telluride, Toronto, DOC NYC, the New York Film Festival, Chicago, Austin, Vancouver, Karlovy Vary, and the Hamptons, among others.
I previously wrote about the doc upon its theatrical release here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to VOD today, Friday, June 5: AN HONEST LIAR
Justin Weinstein and Tyler Measom’s look at a professional truth seeker keeping his own secrets made its debut at Tribeca last year. It went on to screen at Nantucket, Hot Docs, AFI Docs, and Outfest, among other fests. After a limited theatrical release, it now comes to VOD via iTunes and Vimeo on Demand.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to NYC’s Rooftop Films tomorrow, Friday, June 5: SPARTACUS AND CASSANDRA
Ioanis Nuguet’s affecting portrait of two Roma children debuted in the ACID sidebar of Cannes last year. Other festivals have included Rome, DOK Leipzig, True/False, Hot Docs, and Tempo Doc.
Thirteen-year-old Spartacus and his ten-year-old sister Cassandra have been in France for six years, having moved with their parents from Romania. Part of the persecuted Roma minority, they’ve struggled all their lives and, if it weren’t for 21-year-old Camille, a trapeze artist who has given them haven in her circus, the kids would still be living on the streets. The siblings love their parents, despite their flaws, but when their alcoholic father threatens to leave the country, the children are forced to reckon with a decision that will determine their future – enter France’s foster care system and secure an education, essentially abandoning their parents, or return to their familiar, impoverished life to live on the fringes of society forevermore. Nuguet captures intense candor from all involved without feeling exploitative, and even manages to soften the stark images of poverty and hopelessness with beautifully composed and artfully manipulated photography.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
Tomorrow, Friday, June 5 sees the opening of the 22nd Sheffield Doc/Fest, the beloved UK nonfiction event that has gone through significant staff changes over the past year, seeing the departure of several key figures, including director Heather Croall (to Adelaide Fringe Festival), deputy director Charlie Phillips (to the Guardian), and director of programming Hussain Currimbhoy (to Sundance). This edition marks Claire Aguilar’s first in the role of director of programming, having joined the staff after a long tenure at ITVS. Running through Wednesday, June 10, the festival will present over 70 documentary features across a wide range of thematic strands. In addition to curating notable festival favorites, the event offers audiences their first look at several new films, including the opening night debut of Benedikt Erlingsson’s THE GREATEST SHOWS ON EARTH: A CENTURY OF VAUDEVILLE, CIRCUSES AND CARNIVALS, preceded by a live circus show. Other highlights follow below: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
South Africa’s Encounters, Africa’s largest documentary film festival, kicks off its 17th edition tomorrow, Thursday, June 4, in Cape Town, with screenings continuing there and in Johannesburg through Sunday, June 14. About half of its 30+ feature lineup consists of African films, with the remainder made up of a diverse selection of international festival favorites. The highlights below draw from the former: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to theatres and to VOD this Friday, June 5: THE NIGHTMARE
Rodney Ascher’s disturbing investigation into sleep paralysis debuted at Sundance earlier this year. It has since screened at Hot Docs, SXSW, Seattle, and the Stanley Film Festival. In addition to theatrical engagements across the US and in Toronto, Gravitas also releases the film on all major VOD platforms.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Wednesday, June 3: EVERY LAST CHILD
Tom Roberts’ look at the response to a public health emergency made its bow at DOC NYC last year. Other fest berths have included last month’s Hot Docs.
I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
While polio has been all but eliminated since the development of vaccines in the 1950s, the debilitating disease has shown a resurgence in Pakistan. After the Taliban bans polio vaccinations and spreads misinformation about sinister conspiracies to frighten the masses, the country suffers devastating outbreaks of the disease, prompting strategic problem-solving from the World Health Organization. Featuring beautiful lensing and nuanced reporting under difficult circumstances, Tom Roberts’s observational film conveys an uncommon sense of the urgency befitting the stakes raised by the public health crisis.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
what (not) to doc 