Festival:
The 45th Frameline
Dates:
June 10-27
About:
The oldest LGBTQ film festival in the world presents just under 50 new features and episodics in a hybrid format, including approximately 20 works of nonfiction.
Category Archives: Documentary
Frameline 2021: Documentary Overview
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
On DVD: HOT HOUSE
New to DVD this week:
HOT HOUSE
Director:
Shimon Dotan
World Premiere:
Jerusalem 2006
Select Festivals:
Sundance, Human Rights Watch, Watch Docs
About:
A look at how Israeli prisons have encouraged the development of the next generation of Palestinian leaders as well as future terrorist threats.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
In Virtual Release: UPHEAVAL: THE JOURNEY OF MENACHEM BEGIN
Coming to virtual cinema today, Wednesday, June 9:
Upheaval: The Journey of Menachem Begin
Director:
Jonathan Gruber
World Premiere:
Heartland 2020
Select Festivals:
Jewish fests in Las Vegas, Miami, Atlanta, Denver, and Pittsburgh
About:
A portrait of the Nobel Prize-winning former Israeli Prime Minister.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
On DVD: ALI & CAVETT: THE TALE OF THE TAPES
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, June 8:
ALI & CAVETT: THE TALE OF THE TAPES
Director:
Robert S Bader
World Premiere:
SXSW 2018
Select Festivals:
Traverse City, Milwaukee, Black Harvest
About:
Tracing the development of Muhammad Ali through his appearances on THE DICK CAVETT SHOW.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Tribeca 2021: Documentary Overview
Festival:
The 20th Tribeca Festival
Dates:
June 9-20
About:
Approximately 100 features and episodic content – about half of that nonfiction – screens in a hybrid format in this anniversary year for the curiously renamed NYC event, which has dropped “film” from its title.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
On DVD: THE LAND OF AZABA
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, June 8:
THE LAND OF AZABA
Director:
Greta Schiller
World Premiere:
Valladolid 2020
About:
A portrait of ecological restoration, set in Western Spain’s Campanarios de Azaba Nature Reserve.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
On DVD: AMERICAN OZ
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, June 8:
AMERICAN OZ
Director:
Randall MacLowry, Tracy Heather Strain
World Premiere:
American Experience (April 2021)
About:
A portrait of L Frank Baum, best known for his popular series of children’s books that began with THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
On TV: BALLERINA BOYS
Coming to PBS’s American Masters tonight, Friday, June 4:
BALLERINA BOYS
Director:
Chana Gazit, Martie Barylick
World Premiere:
American Masters PBS broadcast (June 2021)
About:
A portrait of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, also known as the Trocks, an all-male company that for 45 years has offered audiences their passion for ballet classics mixed with exuberant comedy, poking fun at their strictly gendered art form.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
On VOD: BREAKING BOUNDARIES: THE SCIENCE OF OUR PLANET
Coming to Netflix today, Friday June 4:
BREAKING BOUNDARIES: THE SCIENCE OF OUR PLANET
Director:
Jon Clay
World Premiere:
Netflix (June 2021)
About:
David Attenborough and scientist Johan Rockström examine Earth’s biodiversity collapse and how this crisis can still be averted.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
In Theatres: THE ANCIENT WOODS
Coming to theatres today, Friday, June 4:
THE ANCIENT WOODS
Director:
Mindaugas Survila
World Premiere:
IDFA 2017
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Sydney, Vilnius, DocPoint, CPH:DOX, Docs Against Gravity, BelDocs, Docaviv, MakeDox, New Zealand, Camden, Bergen, DocsBarcelona, Washington DC Environmental
About:
A wordless immersion into the biodiversity of the Baltic forests.
The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Through immersive cinematography and exquisite sound design, one of Europe’s last remaining old-growth forests comes alive in a poetic documentary about the quotidian rituals, survival, and non-anthropocentric harmony of the varied inhabitants of a Lithuanian woodland. Biologist-turned-filmmaker Mindaugas Survila spent a decade making this extraordinary project, patiently infusing its panoply of nonhuman characters with drama, humor, and transcendence.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
