New to VOD this week:
PHARMA BRO
Director:
Brent Hodge
World Premiere:
VOD release (October 2021)
About:
A profile of the most hated man in America, Martin Shkreli, the financial entrepreneur and pharmaceutical tycoon known for raising the price of an AIDS drug 5500% overnight, buying the sole copy of a Wu-Tang Clan album for $2 million dollars, and being convicted of securities fraud.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Festival:
The 29th Hamptons International Film Festival
Dates:
October 7-13
About:
Nearly half of the 40+ features screening at this Long Island event are nonfiction, including several premieres such as the selections below.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, October 5:
NOT GOING QUIETLY
Director:
Nicholas Bruckman
World Premiere:
Tribeca 2020 (unscreened)
Select Festivals:
SXSW, Oxford, Cleveland, Annapolis, Provincetown, San Francisco Jewish
About:
When a young father chances to meet a powerful senator on an airplane, their exchange goes viral, sparking one of the most unlikely political movements in a generation.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, October 5 and to virtual cinemas this Friday, October 8:
WITKIN & WITKIN
Director:
Trisha Ziff
World Premiere:
Morelia 2017
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Los Cabos, San Francisco DocFest, Hot Docs, AFI Docs
About:
Gifted twin brothers—photographer Joel-Peter Witkin and painter Jerome Witkin—reunite for a joint show.
The film screened at DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Joel-Peter Witkin is a celebrated photographer, known for dark tableaux full of disturbing images. His identical twin brother Jerome is an equally acclaimed figurative painter, whose work explores sociohistorical themes. These two gifted artists rarely communicate with one another, maintaining separate lives despite their shared upbringing. Told almost entirely by the women in their lives, Trisha Ziff’s intimate film explores themes of love, loss, and distance, while showcasing the Witkins’ fascinating bodies of work. When they reunite for their first-ever joint exhibition, will the brothers’ artistic collaboration change their perspectives on their own – or each other’s – work and lives?
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to PBS’s American Masters tomorrow, Tuesday, October 5:
RITA MORENO: JUST A GIRL WHO DECIDED TO GO FOR IT
Director:
Mariem Pérez Riera
World Premiere:
Sundance 2021
Select Festivals:
Miami, San Francisco, Seattle, Cleveland, Atlanta, Sarasota, Tribeca, Provincetown
About:
A profile of the pioneering, EGOT-winning star of stage and screen.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to The WORLD Channel’s America ReFramed series tomorrow, Tuesday, October 5:
FIVE YEARS NORTH
Director:
Zach Ingrasci, Chris Temple
World Premiere:
Full Frame 2020 (unscreened)
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Seattle, Mountainfilm
About:
An exploration of the complexity of the immigration debate through the stories of an undocumented Guatemalan teenager and a Cuban-American ICE agent.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to POV today, Monday, October 4:
FRUITS OF LABOR
Director:
Emily Cohen
World Premiere:
SXSW 2021
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, New Orleans, BAMcinemaFest, Chicago Latino, Seattle, IFF Boston, San Francisco Doc
About:
A Mexican-American high school teenager living in California with dreams of going to college is forced to be the breadwinner for her family when ICE raids threaten their livelihood.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to Amazon Prime Video today, Friday, October 1:
MY NAME IS PAULI MURRAY
Director:
Betsy West, Julie Cohen
World Premiere:
Sundance 2021
Select Festivals:
Full Frame, Sheffield, Doc10, Provincetown, AFI Docs, Outfest
About:
A profile a long unheralded legal pioneer.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to theatres today, Friday, October 1:
SEYRAN ATEŞ: SEX, REVOLUTION AND ISLAM
Director:
Nefise Özkal Lorentzen
World Premiere:
CPH:DOX 2021
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, San Francisco
About:
Seyran Ateş – imam, feminist, and advocate of a new sexual revolution – puts her life at risk in the holy name of tolerance.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to PBS and streaming tomorrow, Friday, October 1:
LOS HERMANOS/THE BROTHERS
Director:
Marcia Jarmel, Ken Schneider
World Premiere:
Woodstock 2020
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Miami, Havana, GlobeDocs, BendFilm, Mill Valley, Ashland
About:
During the thaw in US/Cuban relations, two brothers, both gifted musicians, long separated by borders, reunite for a joint tour through both countries.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
what (not) to doc 