One of the most senior doc events in the world, DOK Leipzig, founded in 1955 as East Germany’s first independent film festival, is set to kick off its 56th edition this coming Monday, October 28. Running through Sunday, November 3, the festival – which focuses on non-fiction and animation – will screen 187 documentaries, including over 100 new feature docs. With a reputation for German efficiency and a business-focused environment, the event draws a large national film and television industry to participate in its market and professional programs. Its expansive programming tends toward the more esoteric and rigorous, with far fewer films recognizable from elsewhere on the circuit than many other European doc fests. The following presents some of the more intriguing selections in the event’s various competitions and other sections: Continue reading
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DOK Leipzig 2013 Overview
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
On TV: THE GRADUATES – GIRLS
Coming to PBS’ Independent Lens this coming Monday, October 28: THE GRADUATES/LOS GRADUADOS – GIRLS
Bernardo Ruiz’s exploration of the experiences of Latino/a youth in high school makes its debut on PBS over two consecutive weeks. The two films have been previewed at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival as well as at community screenings across the country. Critically, the series will be presented bilingually, making it accessible to wider audiences.
Produced as part of the AMERICAN GRADUATE initiative, which aims to assist local communities in addressing the dropout crisis, Ruiz’s films focus on the diverse and specific challenges faced by Latino/a students in America’s high schools. Noting studies that have found that one-third of Latino students don’t graduate from high school on time, Ruiz seeks to illuminate why through candid testimony from a small group of students. The first hour focuses on female students, with next week’s spotlighting young Latino males. The three young women represent different parts of the country, and different concerns – Darlene, from Tulsa OK, saw few options in school and set out to create her own family, becoming a teen mother; Stephanie views education as a way out of her dangerous Southside Chicago neighborhood, leading to her involvement in school activities; and Chastity, from the Bronx, has struggled with feeling responsible for taking care of her family, which has faced homeless more than once. Permitted to tell their own stories, these three subjects humanize common factors that contribute to the dropout rate – unsupportive or under-resourced schools, the lures and dangers of drugs and gangs, and familial pressures borne out of economic necessity – making what otherwise may seem to be amorphous excuses into something both concrete and sympathetic.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Jihlava 2013 Overview
The 17th edition of the Czech Republic’s Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, the largest doc event in Central and Eastern Europe, begins today, Thursday, October 24, and runs through next Tuesday, October 29th. Characterized by a youthful, anarchic, and eclectic edge that champions a large number of experimental work, the festival has drawn raves by North American programmers who’ve made the trek to the historic mining town. For the past few years, the event has made an effort to attract greater industry presence, hosting several concurrent programs for professionals, including a producers forum, filmmaker workshops, a film festivals conference, and a market for work from the region. Its public film program includes nearly 70 new feature documentaries in both competitive and non-competitive sections. Were I attending, the following new work is what I’d be most interested in checking out: Continue reading
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In Theatres: THE SQUARE
Coming to NYC’s Film Forum tomorrow, Friday, October 25: THE SQUARE (AL MIDAN)
Jehane Noujaim’s immersive story of Egypt’s ongoing struggle for democracy had its world premiere in an early form at Sundance this year, winning an audience award. She continued to film and edit the film, bringing a revised version to premiere at Toronto last month, where it once again won an audience award. The doc will expand to Los Angeles theatres next week.
I previously profiled the earlier version of the doc prior to Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Doclisboa 2013 Overview
One of the largest film events in Portugal, Doclisboa, opens tonight, Thursday, October 24, and wraps up its eleventh edition next Sunday, November 3. In total, nearly 250 films from 40 countries contribute to its impressive line-up, including over 120 feature-length docs. Competition titles vie for €32,500 in cash and services, recognizing both international and Portuguese films, while several non-competition sidebars provide audiences with, among other categories, selections of retrospective, student, and experimental fare in this rigorously curated festival. What follows are some of the features that caught my eye from various sections. Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
In Theatres & Special Screening: WHEN I WALK
Coming to NYC’s IFC Center this Friday, October 25 and to JCC in Manhattan’s CineMatters series this Sunday, October 27: WHEN I WALK
Jason DaSilva’s chronicle of experiencing the onset of multiple sclerosis made its debut at Sundance at the beginning of the year. It went on to screen at Hot Docs, where it won Best Canadian Feature, as well as at Sarasota, NY Asian American, Milwaukee, LA’s Arclight Doc Fest, Vancouver, Hot Springs, Heartland, Margaret Mead, and Poland’s New Horizons American Film Festival. The film expands to Los Angeles next week.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
DocsDF 2013 Overview
The 8th edition of DocsDF: The International Documentary Film Festival of Mexico City begins tomorrow, Thursday, October 24 and runs through Sunday, November 3. The fest screens more than 130 new and retrospective feature-length and short documentaries for audiences numbering over 30,000. Presenting a broad range of Mexican, Ibero-American, and international work, DocsDF aims to increase non-fiction awareness nationally, presenting Doctober, a touring program, throughout the month to every state of the country. What follows are some highlights from the various sections of the festival: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
On Cable: BLACKFISH
Coming to CNN tomorrow, Thursday, October 24: BLACKFISH
Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s investigation into the plight of captive orcas had its world premiere at Sundance earlier this year. It has gone on to screen at Nantucket, Seattle, Sarasota, Vancouver, Provincetown, AFI Docs, Miami, Moscow, Melbourne, and Sydney, among others, and to enjoy a limited theatrical release this Summer.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Abu Dhabi 2013: Documentary Overview
This Thursday, October 24, sees the start of the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, which runs through Saturday, November 2nd. One of several film events to launch in the United Arab Emirates within the past decade, the fest began in 2007 as the Middle East International Film Festival before rebranding to its more geographically specific designation in 2010. This year’s edition, its seventh, promises nearly 100 features and over 70 shorts, representing more than 50 countries, and showing a particular emphasis on work from the Arab world. Among this line-up are 20 feature documentaries reflecting a mix of internationally recognized films from festivals like Cannes, Sundance, Venice, and Tribeca, as well as several premieres.
Abu Dhabi’s Documentary Competition includes more than a dozen films, including a couple of city symphonies: Sherief Elkatsha’s portrait of the Egyptian capital, CAIRO DRIVE; and Kasim Abid’s look at life on the streets of several Arab cities, WHISPERS OF THE CITIES. Geographical locations are also the concern of Francesco Conversano and Nene Grignaffini’s WALLS, a comparison of the territorial borders. Julie Bertuccelli’s SCHOOL OF BABEL (pictured) looks at the learning experiences of a diverse group of young immigrants to France. The personal cost of resistance and revolution is explored in both Hamza Aouni’s EL GORT, an intimate, multiple-year exploration of Tunisia before and after the revolution; and Mohammad Soueid’s HANGING DATES UNDER ALEPPO’S CITADEL, about a Syrian man’s personal stake in the ongoing Syrian uprising.
Feature docs also appear in the festival’s Showcase, a panorama of international films. Several of these are also eligible for the environmentally-themed Our World Competition, including, among others: Douglas Kass’ EMPTYING THE SKIES (pictured), following dedicated activists as they set out to halt illegal poaching that threatens songbirds with extinction; Raoul Peck’s FATAL ASSISTANCE, an exposé on failed humanitarian efforts in post-earthquake Haiti; and Lech Kowalski’s HOLY FIELD HOLY WAR, documenting the struggle between Polish farmers and encroaching fracking.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
On VOD: TRASH DANCE
Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, October 22: TRASH DANCE
Andrew Garrison’s chronicle of the transformation of sanitation work into spectacle debuted at SXSW last year, where it received a special jury mention. It went on to screen at Full Frame, Silverdocs, and Woods Hole, picking up audience awards at each, as well as New Orleans, DocuWest, Warsaw, Heartland, DOXA, Lincoln Center’s Dance on Camera, and Sedona, among others. The Orchard now releases the film on iTunes, Amazon, Xbox, Google Play, and Vudu.
Set in Austin TX, Garrison’s film follows an unexpected collaboration between choreographer Allison Orr and the city’s sanitation department that results in a one-night only mechanistic ballet of garbage trucks and the unheralded workers who keep the city clean. While the sold-out performance serves as the successful end of Orr’s project, what’s equally, or perhaps more, compelling are her research ridealongs and interviews with the skeptical, primarily African American and Latino/a garbagemen and -women whom she tries to convince to participate in the unorthodox project. To paraphrase one of the men, “what does this short-haired white lady want with us?” Orr’s full answer is wisely withheld until the film’s end, allowing the audience to recognize for themselves her motives in shining a spotlight on an often denigrated, but absolutely essential profession.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
