Coming to PBS’s POV this Monday, July 22: HIGH TECH, LOW LIFE
Stephen Maing’s look at the work of two of China’s citizen reporters had its premiere last year at Tribeca. Additional festival exposure followed at Hot Docs, Sydney, DocAviv, One World, CPH:DOX, Sheffield, Woods Hole, and the IFF Boston, among others. The doc has already enjoyed a limited theatrical and VOD release.
I wrote about the film out of Tribeca here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
Coming to NYC’s Rooftop Films this Friday, July 19: I HATE MYSELF :)
Joanna Arnow’s study of a bad relationship and worse decisions makes its official world premiere at Rooftop Films. It held a sneak preview screening at the LES* Film Festival last month, where it picked up an audience award.
Arnow, an insecure, somewhat-hipster 20something filmmaker, is sort of dating James, an obnoxious, intentionally insensitive poet who runs a cafe/performance space in Harlem. Possessed of an outsized personality that more than makes up for Arnow’s meekness, James deliberately provokes and alienates his patrons with racially charged language, and treats her like an afterthought. Her seemingly natural response – to film their “relationship” as a means to determine if she really should be with this abrasive asshole – gives this unusual project its shape and purpose. For her part, Arnow comes off as needy and annoying, yet possessed of a self-critical eye that forces viewers to wonder if she’s being impossibly candid and vulnerable, or instead has carefully calculated a persona that calls into question if this is fiction, nonfiction, or something inbetween – signaled by the film’s titular smileyface. Arnow’s complex approach to self-portraiture (or self-caricature?) comes to the fore in her interactions with her parents, who she forces to watch incredibly uncomfortable, sexually explicit footage, angering them enough to launch into a brilliant criticism of their daughter. Unlike any other figures in the film – such as Arnow’s friend/editor, appearing naked for no discernible reason – her parents leave a stark impression, precisely because they appear sane and have normal responses to untoward behavior. Independently mining similar terrain as Lena Dunham’s GIRLS, but with a decidedly blunter edge, Arnow has crafted a grotesquely compelling, if often perplexing and undeniably self-indulgent, self-portrait of young adulthood.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
Coming to NYC’s Landmark Sunshine Cinema this Friday, July 19: THE ACT OF KILLING
Joshua Oppenheimer, Christine Cynn, and their anonymous collaborators chilling look at Indonesia’s genocidal past debuted at Telluride and Toronto this past Fall. The well-traveled doc has picked up numerous awards on the fest circuit, including at Berlin, CPH:DOX, Sheffield, Planete+ Doc, Documenta Madrid, Biografilm, and DocsBarcelona. It opens in Los Angeles and Washington DC next weekend, and expands throughout the country in August.
I included the doc in my Toronto coverage here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, July 16: AN AFFAIR OF THE HEART
Sylvia Caminer’s look at devoted Rick Springfield fans had its world premiere at the Florida Film Festival, where it picked up a special jury prize. It went on to win awards at Nashville, Sidewalk, and Boston, and also screened at IDFA, Hot Docs, Hot Springs, Sound Unseen, and Planete+ Doc, among others, before its theatrical release last Fall.
Wearing its hagiographic intentions on its sleeves, Caminer’s film unabashedly celebrates the 1980s pop star who famously sang the catchy “Jessie’s Girl” and appeared on GENERAL HOSPITAL. He’s an affable figure, consistently maintaining an active performance schedule in the intervening decades, thanks in large part to, Caminer demonstrates, the obsessive loyalty of his legion of fans. Ultimately, this is what makes her film worthwhile – for, despite its attempts to address Springfield’s history (including, to be fair, some of his missteps or moral failings), he could almost be any once huge but somewhat diminished celebrity – perhaps explaining the odd presence of former teen heartthrob Corey Feldman as an interviewee in the proceedings. What’s really at its core is a look at celebrity fandom, both a cause for inspiration and obsession in equal measures. While it steers clear of the pathological kind of fandom found in the excellent Tiffany fan doc I THINK WE’RE ALONE NOW, Caminer’s film profiles Springfield superfans, some who have been following him for decades, from middle-aged housewives taking girls’ weekends to attend his concerts to a teenager who has been regularly jamming with his idol ever since he was first pulled onstage as a toddler, or, hitting more serious notes, a woman who used a Springfield album to recover from life-threatening surgery, and a minister who gained strength to resist suicide through his music. These ordinary people elevate the project from charges of being a puff piece, speaking instead to the relationship between celebrity and fan, and celebrating it in an entertaining, if generally light, manner.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres this Friday, July 19: BLACKFISH
Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s searing exposé of orca captivity debuted earlier this year at Sundance. Other fest screenings have included Sarasota, Seattle, Vancouver, Provincetown, Nantucket, AFI Docs, Miami, Moscow, Melbourne, and Sydney, among others.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, July 16: BIDDER 70
Beth and George Gage’s look at one man’s act of defiance debuted at last year’s Mountainfilm in Telluride. Its festival run has included Cleveland, Human Rights Watch, Traverse City, Cine Montana, and several environmental events. It enjoyed a limited theatrical release this past May.
I wrote about the doc upon its release here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD and VOD tomorrow, Tuesday, July 16: THE FRUIT HUNTERS
Yung Chang’s look at exotic fruit lovers debuted at RIDM last year. Its fest circuit included IDFA, Toronto Reel Asian, Palm Springs, Hawaii, and Global Visions, among others. It was part of Cinedigm’s Docurama theatrical doc screening series this Spring.
I previously wrote about the film out of IDFA here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
As Tunisia heads to its first free presidential election, can secular and religious forces manage to work together to create a democracy that satisfies all its citizens?
The Tunisian Revolution of 2010-2011 is recognized as the beginning of the Arab Spring, but as has been the case in other post-revolutionary nations, the road to true freedom is not instantaneous, especially in a country that has never known democracy. To make matters even more complicated, how will the region’s deep-seated religious beliefs come into play? This is the question facing the protagonists of director/producer Jessie Deeter’s film, which follows Bassem Bouguerra, a secular revolutionary, and Jawhara Ettis, a university professor and member of the moderate Islamist party. Even under ousted President Ben Ali’s dictatorial rule, Tunisia espoused secular freedom, but some Tunisians seek a turn to more fundamentalist policies to bring the country in line with Islamic law. As the country tries to set forth its future course with a general election later this year, Deeter and her Tunisian-born co-producer Sara Maamouri follow Bassem and Jawhara to reveal what democracy will look like in a country pulled in separate directions. Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, In the Works
Coming to ESPN as part of their Nine for IX series next Tuesday, July 16: LET THEM WEAR TOWELS
Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg’s revisitation of the double standards female journalists once faced debuted at Tribeca this year. The film was commissioned by ESPN for its women-directed, women in sports doc series, an offshoot of sorts to the network’s popular 30 for 30 doc brand.
I included the doc in my Tribeca coverage here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to WORLD Channel’s Global Voices series this Sunday, July 14: INVOKING JUSTICE
Deepa Dhanraj’s look at Muslim South Indian women uniting to ensure justice under Sharia law made its debut at IDFA in 2011. Its festival run has included Hawaii, DocPoint, One World, CAAMFest, and NY’s Asian American fest, among others.
In Southern India’s Tamil Nadu, disputes involving family issues – dowries to divorces, domestic violence to murder – used to be adjudicated by local Jamaats, all-male assemblies tasked with applying Sharia law, without women present to offer testimony or defense. In 2004, this practice changed, when a Women’s Jamaat was formed to attend directly to women’s issues, a radical and controversial idea that nevertheless proved popular as women became emboldened by its equal application of the law. Dhanraj’s film focuses on the work of a Women’s Jamaat as its fierce advocates seek justice for a mother whose daughter was allegedly set aflame by her husband and in-laws in a dowry dispute, and for a battered wife who’s finally reached her limit when her husband makes inappropriate sexual advances to their daughter. Eye-opening in its raw exposé of continuing gender inequities and corruption, the film nevertheless leaves the viewer feeling that these women are making a real difference, working from within the bounds of the system to reclaim their religion from extremists who would use it to subjugate and do violence upon women.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
