Author Archives: basiltsiokos

Coming to theatres today, Friday, May 31: TRIUMPH OF THE WALL

Bill Stone’s meditation on art, work, and life had its world premiere – under its original title WORK IN PROGRESS – at RIDM in 2011. Since then, it has screened at Victoria, picked up a prize at Les Rendez-vous du Cinema Quebecois, and has been released in theatres in Montreal.

Simply put, Stone’s is an unusual film. After filming for others’ projects, Stone was seeking inspiration for his own documentary film, but noted he didn’t really have a grasp on or perhaps much interest in dramatic situations, preferring to film the rhythms of nature. When he met novice stonemason Chris Overing and learned of his plan to spend the summer building a 1000-foot dry-stone wall – one with no cement – in rural Quebec, the aptly named Stone decided he had found a cut-and-dried subject for his debut. Fast forward eight weeks, and Overing is only eight percent of the way done. Over the next several years, Stone would return to film Overing and various assistants who would join the charismatic man on his seemingly unhurried mission. Along the way, Stone muses about the documentary director/subject relationship, work vs art, the nature of life, and if Overing’s wall – and his own film – would ever be completed. As signaled by both of the film’s titles, it seems the wall, not the men, win – it’s not clear by the end of the film that the project has been completed – but at least for Stone, he’s come to some kind of conclusion despite that. As an endurance contest of a sort for the audience, the act of watching the film approximates the long path taken by both Stone and Overing, accompanied by similar self-questioning: Should they stick it out to the end? Will it, in fact, ever end? What’s it all mean? For a doc that in ordinary circumstances shouldn’t work – featuring as it does a certain amount of filmmaker self-indulgence, a great deal of narration, an eye-rolling focus on “big questions,” and an on-the-surface boring premise that would seem just a notch above watching paint dry – it’s surprisingly successful more often than it isn’t. While never laugh out loud funny, there’s enjoyment to be had from some of Stone’s deadpan and self-aware commentary, and two assistant builders provide an added dose of levity for one stretch. It’s certain not to be to everyone’s taste but as a piece of meta-commentary about the creative process and about documentary filmmaking specifically, there’s something definitely worthwhile here for some viewers.

Coming to WORLD Channel’s Global Voices series this Sunday, June 2: WHERE HEAVEN MEETS HELL

Sasha Friedlander’s look at the dangerous work of sulfur miners made its debut at Hong Kong last year. It went on to screen at Hot Docs, DocsDF, Taiwan Doc, and the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival, among other fests. After its broadcast, the doc will be available for a limited time on WORLD’s website.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to Brooklyn’s reRun Theater this Friday, May 31 and to Los Angeles’ Downtown Independent on June 7: LA CAMIONETA

Mark Kendall’s chronicle of one school bus’ journey to Guatemala made its world premiere at SXSW last year. It went on to screen at Los Angeles, Nashville, Philadelphia, Denver, DOC NYC, DocsDF, Big Sky, Cinequest, Guadalajara, Sebastopol, Cleveland, and It’s All True, among several other fests. It also won the IDA David L Wolper Award last year.

I included the doc in my SXSW coverage here.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, May 28: A GOOD DAY TO DIE

David Mueller and Lynn Salt’s portrait of Dennis Banks and the American Indian Movement made its debut at deadCENTER in 2010, where it won best documentary. It went on to screen at Denver, Cork, Hot Springs, imagineNATIVE, and the San Francisco American Indian festivals, among others.

Banks is one of the founders and leaders of the late 1960s-1970s activist organization AIM, a Native American advocacy group borne out of frustration with authorities and the non-responsiveness of the federal government Bureau of Indian Affairs. Mueller and Salt focus to a large extent on Banks’ life, which mirrored the experiences of many Native Americans of his generation – forced separation from family, community, and language at Native boarding schools; government-supported assimilation into cities via the Indian Relocation Program; military service; and jail – the latter a product of discriminatory and often hostile policing. While incarcerated, Banks and fellow Native prisoners educated themselves via the prison library, learning of the strides made through activism around civil rights, women’s rights, and the anti-war movement, and becoming politicized in turn, forming AIM. Banks and associates relate a number of AIM’s key actions, such as the taking over of Mt Rushmore and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, neither of which employed Natives; several protests around the murders and cover-ups of Native people, including a march on Custer SD that gives the doc its title; and the infamous standoff at Wounded Knee, which sent Banks into hiding for nearly a decade, and effecitvely led to the shut down of AIM. Expertly blending interviews with ample archival material, Mueller and Salt provide an engrossing overview of the modern history of Native American activism that is sadly probably not as well known as it should be.