Coming to NYC’s Stranger Than Fiction tomorrow Tuesday, March 20: GIRL MODEL
Ashley Sabin and David Redmon’s accomplished look at the dark side of the international modeling industry made its world premiere at Toronto last year. It came stateside for SXSW last week, having already screened at Rome (winning a jury award), Abu Dhabi, Rio, CPH:DOX, IDFA, and others.
I included the doc in my SXSW roundup here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, March 20: !WOMEN ART REVOLUTION
Lynn Hershman Leeson spent four decades documenting US feminist art, premiering the film at Toronto in 2010, followed by Sundance the next year. In addition to numerous festival screenings, it was included in MoMA’s “The Contenders” series and also received a limited theatrical run last Summer.
I wrote about the film before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Releases, Sundance
The 41st edition of New Directors/New Films, a co-presentation of the Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, begins next Wednesday, March 21 and runs through Sunday, April 1.
As always, ND/NF is a tightly curated showcase of international emerging talent – the series consists of 29 features and 12 shorts from 28 countries. There are only four feature docs included, but of the three that I’ve already seen (Sundance titles), they represent some of the strongest, most provocative non-fiction work of the past few months:
I haven’t yet seen the fourth film, Anca Damian’s CRULIC: THE PATH TO BEYOND, from Romania, which has already picked up awards at CPH:DOX, Locarno, and Warsaw.
While not technically a doc in its final form, a fifth film, another Sundance alumnus, Terence Nance’s AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF HER BEAUTY, has its origins in non-fiction, and utilizes documentary strategies to tell its winning story about love and desire.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
My last post on this year’s SXSW included my brief thoughts on the features I saw in the Documentary Competition and Emerging Visions sections. Today’s wraps up with profiles of eleven additional films from various other fest sections. Once again, I unfortunately wasn’t able to fit in all the titles I wanted to see, including GREGORY CREWDSON: BRIEF ENCOUNTERS, LOST AND SOUND, THE WILL, and DREAMS OF A LIFE. Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, In Brief
While the torrential downpours of the first few days made for a much different SXSW than I’ve been used to, Austin needed the rain, so I tried not to complain too much, and it was still a great fest. Despite leaving a day earlier than usual in order to attend the second half of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, I managed to see a nice chunk of the films on my wishlist while in town, enough for a couple of posts. In this one, I’m including my thoughts on the Competition and Emerging Visions titles I was able to catch, while the next post will cover Documentary Spotlight, 24 Beats Per Second, SX Global, and Festival Favorites. Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, In Brief
Coming to PBS’ Independent Lens next Thursday, March 22: PUSHING THE ELEPHANT
Beth Davenport and Elizabeth Mandel premiered their portrait of humanitarian activist Rose Mapendo at New York’s 2010 Human Rights Watch International Film Festival. It went on to screen at Human Rights Watch’s London festival and IDFA among others, and screened theatrically through DocuWeeks, before making its broadcast premiere on Independent Lens a year ago.
Mapendo emerged from the horrific ethnic warfare of the Democratic Republic of the Congo radically transformed. She lost her husband to murder, witnessed her daughter raped by a soldier, which resulted in a pregnancy, and herself became pregnant during the conflict. While most people might wish to forget and move forward, Rose recognized the need to come to terms with the past lest it fester and return again stronger. Having left her homeland for Arizona, she has dedicated her life to reconciliation and peace, sharing her painful story as she works with other refugees and victims of violence. This exceptional film focuses a great deal on Mapendo’s own often challenging reunion with her daughter Nangabire, who she had to leave behind for more then a decade. Indicative of the openness that Mapendo demonstrates throughout the film, this personal aspect of her life further humanizes her, moving her from an imposing activist figurehead to a relatable single mother who has to do a lot of work to balance her various responsibilities.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, March 13: THE SWELL SEASON
Nick August-Perna, Chris Dapkins, and Carlo Mirabella-Davis premiered their doc on the real relationship between the stars of the Oscar winning ONCE at Tribeca last year. It went on to play more than a dozen additional fests, including Silverdocs, Newport, Traverse City, and CPH:DOX, and enjoyed a theatrical release in the US and elsewhere.
I included the doc in my Tribeca coverage here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
My latest Indiewire curation for Hulu documentaries loosely uses SXSW’s influential Interactive conference and its themes as its starting point, focusing on documentaries exploring technology and gaming. View all of the films now for free!
For more information about the selections, see my Indiewire article.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Indiewire @ Hulu Docs, Recommendations
Did a soldier from 2036 interact online with the people of 2000 during a time-traveling mission, or was it an elaborate hoax?
Jay Cheel, the director of BEAUTY DAY and founder/editor of The Documentary Blog, explores his interest in time travel through the stranger than fiction episode in 2000 involving a man who claimed to be a time traveller. In the post-apocalyptic America of 2036, soldier John Titor is sent back to 1975 in search of an IBM computer. The world would know nothing of this clandestine, physics-defying journey, except that Titor decided to make a stopover in 2000 to meet with his family, and even himself as a toddler. During this unexpected excursion, he inexplicably shared details online of his mission and his mode of chronal displacement. While skeptics immediately doubted the veracity of Titor’s claims, still others have maintained their belief of a crosstime correspondence. Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, In the Works
This month, I’m excited to be attending the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival for the first time. I’ll be leaving SXSW after its first half to catch the second half of the Greek festival, making for a packed couple of weeks. It’s been far too many years since I’ve been to Greece – the homeland of both of my parents – and the first time I’ve attended a film event there. The tight timing unfortunately means I won’t have a chance to visit relatives in Athens, putting me in the doghouse with them, but so it goes.
Thessaloniki’s documentary fest, part of the same organization that puts together the larger non-doc specific event in the Fall, opens tomorrow, March 9 and runs through the 18th. Its 14th edition, under the theme “Images of the 21st Century, presents a staggering 185 films – features and shorts – under eight sections plus an additional six special programs. I’m covering the festival for Indiewire and looking forward to sampling as many of the offerings as possible. Following is a section-by-section overview, with some of the titles that caught my attention as I read through the lineup descriptions: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
