Coming to NYC’s Rooftop Films this Saturday, July 21: BROOKLYN CASTLE
Katie Dellamaggiore’s profile of the winningest junior high school chess team made its world premiere at SXSW this year, where it picked up an audience award. Since then, its festival circuit has included Cleveland, Dallas, Hot Docs, Montclair, Silverdocs, and Brooklyn, among others.
I included the film in my SXSW coverage here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
With a body of documentary work that explores his and other African-American lives, the creator of the Digital Diaspora Family Reunion is finishing his newest doc and multimedia outreach project about the history of African American photography.
Thomas Allen Harris, whose past films like THAT’S MY FACE/E MINHA CARA and TWELVE DISCIPLES OF NELSON MANDELA have often blended the autobiographical with cogent social and historical analysis of race and identity, has been at the forefront in recent years in encouraging other African-Americans to explore their own past through the DDFR project. Simultaneously, he’s been working on this expansive, multi-faceted exploration of the historical intersection of African Americans and photography, from the birth of the medium to the present. The film, which will screen on PBS and will include a transmedia component, will document how African Americans have employed the power of the photographic medium to counter mainstream depictions and distortions of their lives, empowering them to control their own representations, and, importantly, to change consciousness and prejudices. Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, In the Works
Coming to VOD next Tuesday, July 17: MANSOME
Morgan Spurlock brought his look at 21st century masculinity to Tribeca this spring for its world premiere before releasing theatrically via Paladin the next month. The doc now becomes available on iTunes, Amazon, and Movies On Demand.
I wrote about the film out of Tribeca here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD next Tuesday, July 17: BROWNSTONES TO RED DIRT
Dave LaMattina and Chad N Walker’s documentation of cross-cultural exchange between Brooklyn and Sierra Leone made its world premiere in Sarasota in 2010. Its festival circuit has included spots in San Francisco, Seattle, Brooklyn, Aspen, Tallinn Black Nights, and Toronto’s TIFF Kids fest.
On the surface, it wouldn’t seem there’s much in common between a bunch of 11- and 12-year-old kids from Bed-Stuy and slightly older ones in Freetown, Sierra Leone, a country still recovering from a decade-long civil war – but, at one point in time, both places were basically given up as lost to violence and poverty. A pen pal program between two schools more than 4000 miles apart serves as a bridge for its students to learn about each other, providing insight and fostering inspiration. LaMattina and Walker profile a number of engaging students on both sides of the Atlantic, but the film is most affecting when detailing how the Brooklyn kids, their eyes opened to the conditions their new friends face due to lack of basic resources, come together to raise funds for the Freetown school. It’s the simple, but profound, lesson that they can make a difference that makes this doc worth checking out, especially for parents to share with their kids – and suggests it should have a strong life in educational markets.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Premiering on HBO next Monday, July 16: BIRDERS: THE CENTRAL PARK EFFECT
Jeffrey Kimball’s doc on NYC’s birds and those who devote themselves to spotting them had its world premiere at SXSW earlier this year. It went on to screen at IFF Boston and Seattle before it makes its broadcast debut as part of HBO’s celebrated documentary summer series.
I included the film in my SXSW coverage here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
DOC NYC returns for its third edition this November, and I just recently came on board to program the festival’s shorts and panels. If you want a shot at screening your film in Manhattan to an audience of dedicated non-fiction fans and industry representatives, I encourage you to submit ASAP – the late deadline for both shorts and features is July 23, while the Withoutabox extended deadline is July 30.
For more information, click here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Submission Deadlines
Coming to theatres nationwide for one night only* next Wednesday, July 18: SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS
Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace’s requiem to LCD Soundsystem premiered at Sundance this year. It went on to screen as part of the inaugural Sundance London program, as well as at SXSW, Ambulante, and Hot Docs.
My pre-Sundance profile of the film may be found here.
*Due to high demand, additional screenings have been added in some theatres, including additional playdates in places like NYC’s Landmark Sunshine.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to NYC’s Rooftop Films this Saturday, July 14: THE ARGENTINIAN LESSON
Polish director Wojciech Staron’s stunningly photographed study of his son’s experience of their strange new Argentinian surroundings premiered last year in Krakow, where it picked up the fest’s main prize. Stateside, it’s screened at True/False and Silverdocs, while other international stops have included DocPoint, Guangzhou, Festival dei Popoli, DOK Leipzig, and Moscow.
I wrote about the film out of Silverdocs here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
Coming to theatres and VOD this Friday, July 13: BALLPLAYER: PELOTERO
Ross Finkel, Trevor Martin, and Jonathan Paley’s exploration of Dominican baseball dreams had its world premiere at last year’s Hamptons. Its gone on to screen in Miami, Cleveland, Sarasota, and the IFF Boston, among others.
Despite being approximately the size of South Carolina, the Dominican Republic leads Major League Baseball as the source of more foreign-born players than any other country, accounting for 11% of the overall rosters, and 39% of those foreign-born according to most recent statistics. This is no accident – MLB has invested heavily in the island, setting up a training and recruitment program to try to identify the most promising players for a career in the big leagues. For the best players, this career begins annually on July 2nd, when pro contracts are offered, provided the athletes are great and show potential to become exceptional, are a minimum of 16 years old, and, as demonstrated in Finkel, Martin, and Paley’s film, figure out a way to work within the flawed and sometimes even outright corrupt system. The doc focuses on two hopefuls, Miguel Angel, a talented shortstop whose age and identity are called into question; and Jean Carlos, a cocky player whose expectations of instant millionaire status face a stark reality check; as well as their coaches, who train their charges for an expected, and lucrative, commission – their financial future intertwined with the young men for good or bad. A doc on baseball, and, more specifically, the politics of MLB recruitment and contracts, is not something I’d typically ever be drawn to – beyond my general disinterest in sports docs, I find baseball to be excruciatingly boring – but, thankfully, this is no straightforward baseball doc. The characters are the key, with a clear sense provided of what (economic) success in the sport means for their families’ and their own futures, while the backroom negotiations offer a sobering look into yet another example of economic exploitation of another culture to the benefit of a superior power.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres this Friday, July 13: THE IMPOSTER
Bart Layton’s stranger than fiction story of an improbable impersonation premiered at Sundance. Its festival circuit has included Seattle, BAMcinemafest, Edinburgh, and Miami, taking a jury prize at the latter.
I profiled the film before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
