Recognizing that the most common New Year’s resolutions involve dieting or eating better, my latest curated selections for Hulu’s Documentaries page look at a number of films about our relationship to food. Watch these now for free, and be inspired to stick with your resolution.
For more information about the selections, see my Indiewire article.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Indiewire @ Hulu Docs, Recommendations
Coming to VOD next Tuesday, January 15: THE HOUSE I LIVE IN
Eugene Jarecki’s critical examination of the war on drugs premiered at Sundance a year ago, taking home the grand jury prize. Its festival circuit has included Los Angeles and Melbourne, among others. After its theatrical release, the doc now comes to all digital and VOD platforms nationwide via FilmBuff, including iTunes, Amazon, Movies on Demand, YouTube, Cinemanow, Charter, Comcast, Google Play, DirecTV, Playstation, SuddenLink, Time Warner, Verizon FIOS, Vudu, and XBOX. The film is on the Oscar shortlist for Best Documentary Feature.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to DVD next Tuesday, January 15: 5 BROKEN CAMERAS
Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi’s personal view of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict made its world premiere at IDFA in 2011, picking up two awards. It went on to claim the World Cinema Documentary Directing Award at its North American premiere at Sundance last year, before continuing on the fest circuit at New Directors/New Films, Thessaloniki Documentary, and Hot Docs, among others. Most recently, the film made the Oscar shortlist for Best Documentary Feature.
I wrote about the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
The 22nd annual New York Jewish Film Festival begins this Wednesday, January 9 and runs through Thursday, January 24, with screenings at both the Jewish Museum and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Launched in 1992 in part due to the newfound access to Jewish stories from the recently dismantled Eastern Bloc, the festival seeks to explore the multiplicity of Jewish identity, experience, and culture via cinema. The latest edition includes nearly thirty feature-length films, with half that number documentary.
Among the New York stories on offer that I’ve seen and recommend are Tracie Holder and Karen Thorsen’s JOE PAPP IN FIVE ACTS, on the celebrated Public Theatre founder; and Neil Barsky’s KOCH (pictured), about NYC’s outspoken three-term mayor.
For an international, and intergenerational, perspective, I’d also point viewers to two other docs I’ve previously seen:Tamar Tal’s LIFE IN STILLS, in which a 96-year-old and her grandson fight to preserve her late husband’s Tel Aviv photo studio; and Alexa Karolinski’s OMA AND BELLA (pictured), a warm profile of the filmmaker’s grandmother and her best friend, both Holocaust survivors, living in Berlin.
Speaking of Germany, I’m intrigued by Fabienne Rousso-Lenoir’s CABARET-BERLIN: THE WILD SIDE (pictured), an ode to the entertainment-rich Weimar Republic; and Brigitte Bertele and Julia Willmann’s MAX RAABE IN ISRAEL, in which the Berlin performer and his orchestra bring their review of Weimar-era standards to an Israeli audience.
Finally, I’m also drawn to two projects focused on the Holocaust: Michael Prazan’s THE TRIAL OF ADOLF EICHMANN, on the capture and conviction of the infamous Nazi leader and Final Solution mastermind; and Dana Doron and Uriel Sinai’s NUMBERED (pictured), an exploration of the legacy of the death camps as revealed through the relationship Auschwitz survivors have with their prisoner ID tattoos.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews
The next entry in this year’s World Cinema Documentary Competition welcomes back a Sundance alum: From the UK/India, Kim Longinotto’s SALMA, the story of a Muslim Indian woman who fought back against repressive traditions to find her own voice.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
Beginning the second half of this year’s World Cinema Documentary Competition: Kalyanee Mam’s A RIVER CHANGES COURSE, on the radical transformations taking place in the filmmaker’s native Cambodia.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
This year’s World Cinema Documentary Competition reaches the halfway point: From the Russian Federation/UK, Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin’s PUSSY RIOT – A PUNK PRAYER, a look at the controversial trial of the radical feminist activists.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
Coming to Brooklyn’s reRun Theater this Friday, January 11: WELCOME TO THE MACHINE
Avi Zev Weider’s directorial debut had its world premiere last year at SXSW. Since then, it has also screened at Hot Docs, Sarasota, and Woodstock, among other fests.
After Weider and his wife have trouble conceiving, their turn to in vitro fertilization results in triplets, born prematurely, and thus initially dependent on machines to keep them healthy. This utilization of science for both the conception and sustenance of his children’s lives serves as the launching pad for a far-ranging meditation on the omnipresence and importance of technology in human’s lives. To gain insight on such a huge topic, Weider elicits the opinions of experts like singularity proponent Ray Kurzweil and virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier, and demonstrates some of the practical applications of their insights through the stories of a blind man using an artificial retinal implant to see again and Army soldiers remote-piloting unmanned aerial vehicles. In an attempt to explore an extreme anti-technology viewpoint, Weider seeks comment from Ted Kaczynski, the infamous Unabomber, but instead has to make due with one of his would-be victims and a Unabomber scholar. Taking a broad approach, the doc offers an introduction to a subject that should prove thought provoking, stimulating long conversations about how viewers’ lives are themselves affected by the increasing merging of man and machine.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Wrapping up today’s look at the World Cinema Documentary Competition: From the UK, director Andy Heathcote and co-director Heike Bachelier’s THE MOO MAN, a portrait of a small-scale British dairy farm.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
Next in Sundance 2013’s World Cinema Documentary Competition: From Georgia/Germany, THE MACHINE WHICH MAKES EVERYTHING DISAPPEAR, in which director Tinatin Gurchiani offers a glimpse at contemporary Georgian life inspired by audition interviews.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
