Author Archives: basiltsiokos

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About basiltsiokos

Basil Tsiokos is a Senior Programmer for the Sundance Film Festival, focusing on nonfiction features. He was most recently with DOC NYC for nearly a decade, where he served as Director of Programming since 2014, and with the Nantucket Film Festival as its Film Program Director. Prior to those positions, Basil was the longtime Artistic and Executive Director of NewFest. He has been affiliated with Sundance since 2005 as a Programming Associate. Basil serves on the feature nominating committees for the International Documentary Association Awards and Cinema Eye Honors. He has written about documentaries daily since 2010 on what (not) to doc. Basil holds a Masters degree from New York University and two undergraduate degrees from Stanford University.

On TV: ON THE DIVIDE

Coming to POV today, Monday, April 18:
ON THE DIVIDE

Director:
Leah Galant, Maya Cueva

World Premiere:
Tribeca 2021

Select Festivals:
New Orleans, Human Rights Watch, Watch Docs, St Louis, Tallgrass, Hot Springs Doc, Heartland, SF Latino, Boston Latino, Woods Hole

About:
A look at the lives of three Latinx people in McAllen TX, whose different beliefs come to a head at the last abortion clinic on the US/Mexico border.

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Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases

On TV: LA MADRINA: THE [SAVAGE] LIFE OF LORINE PADILLA

Coming to Showtime today, Friday, April 5:
LA MADRINA: THE SAVAGE LIFE OF LORINE PADILLA

Director:
Raquel Cepeda

World Premiere:
DOC NYC 2020

Select Festivals:
Tribeca, Philadelphia Latino, Hot Docs

About:
The “first lady” of the Savage Skulls reflects on the pivotal role of women in the 1970s New York City gang and her later shift to community activism.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

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Streaming: BOTERO

Coming to Film Movement Plus today, Friday, April 15:
BOTERO

Director:
Don Millar

World Premiere:
Morelia 2018

Select Festivals:
Palm Springs, Seattle, Miami, Montevideo

About:
A tribute to the popular Colombian artist.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

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Streaming: RED HOLLYWOOD

Red_Hollywood_001

Coming to OVID.tv today, Thursday, April 14:
RED HOLLYWOOD

Director:
Thom Andersen, Noël Burch

World Premiere:
Locarno 1996

Select Festivals:
San Sebastian, Vancouver, Ann Arbor, Art of the Real

About:
An essay film exploring the work of studio directors who were on the Red Scare blacklist.

I previously wrote about the film here.

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On DVD: THE FUNDAMENTAL GILBERT AND GEORGE

Coming to DVD in re-release this Friday, April 15:
THE FUNDAMENTAL GILBERT AND GEORGE

Director:
Gerald Fox

World Premiere:
UK television broadcast (1997)

Select Festivals:
NewFest

About:
An exploration of the world of Britain’s most eccentric, celebrated, and controversial artistic double act in which life and art are inextricably linked.

The doc screened at NewFest, for which our program notes read:
Take a trip through the heady, genteel, and elemental worlds of Britain’s unofficial godfathers of contemporary art, Gilbert and George. Gerald Fox’s documentary tours the life and work that they have inextricably entwined in their neo-gothic, minimalist, 25-year routine in London’s East End. During the making of this film, Gilbert and George develop a new series of works entitled “The Fundamentals” – studies of their spunk, piss, and blood. Whether attending the opening of a retrospective of their work, having their suits tailored, or taking us on a tour of their collection of rare homoerotica, they remain somehow strangely in performance. Are they gay lovers, geniuses, iconoclasts, anachronisms? The answers are all here and nowhere to be found. This film is probably the closest thing you will ever see to a biography of the internationally renowned “Living Sculptures,” and a marvelous thing indeed.

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Special Screening: THE FIRST STEP

Coming to NYC’s Pure Nonfiction series today, Tuesday, April 12:
THE FIRST STEP

Director:
Brandon Kramer

World Premiere:
Tribeca 2021

Select Festivals:
AFI Docs, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Woods Hole, Hot Springs Doc, Heartland, Virginia

About:
Black progressive activist and political commentator Van Jones navigates increasingly tense and isolating political and racial divides in his attempt to become a “bridge builder” during the Trump administration.

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On TV: SHE HAD A DREAM

Coming to The WORLD Channel’s AfroPoP series today, Monday, April 11:
SHE HAD A DREAM

Director:
Raja Amari

World Premiere:
IDFA 2020

Select Festivals:
CPH:DOX, Zurich

About:
Charismatic, young, Black, and working-class, Ghofrane Binous became politically active during the Tunisian national elections. 

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In Theatres: NAVALNY

Coming to theatres for a limited engagement today, Monday, April 11 and tomorrow, Tuesday, April 12:
NAVALNY

Director:
Daniel Roher

World Premiere:
Sundance 2022

Select Festivals:
CPH:DOX, Docville, Cleveland, Hot Docs, San Francisco, Seattle, Sun Valley, Full Frame

About:
After Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with Novichok, a nerve agent implicated in attacks on other opponents of the Russian government, he partners with journalists and international news organizations to investigate his attempted assassination and find proof of the Kremlin’s involvement. 

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Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance

In Theatres & On VOD: COW

Coming to theatres and to VOD today, Friday, April 8:
COW

Director:
Andrea Arnold

World Premiere:
Cannes 2021

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Telluride, IDFA, Busan, BFI London, Melbourne, Jerusalem, Beijing, Hamburg, Hamptons, Reykjavik, Mill Valley, Chicago, Jihlava, AFI Fest, Tokyo, Rio

About:
A close-up portrait of the daily lives of two cows.

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In Theatres: ¡VIVA MAESTRO!

Coming to theatres today, Friday, April 8:
¡VIVA MAESTRO!

Director:
Ted Braun

World Premiere:
US theatrical release (April 2022)

About:
A portrait of world-renowned conductor Gustavo Dudamel as he responds to the unexpected and daunting obstacles of social unrest in his homeland of Venezuela with powerful music-making and an innovative and triumphant concert that celebrates the power of art to renew and unite.

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