HOMEROOM
Peter Nicks profiles an Oakland high school class in the tumultuous year of COVID and a widespread reckoning of racial injustice.
Festival Section:
US Documentary Competition
Category Archives: Documentary
2021 Sundance Docs in Focus: HOMEROOM
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
In Theatres/Virtual Release: THE REASON I JUMP
Coming to select theatres and to virtual cinemas tomorrow, Friday, January 8:
THE REASON I JUMP
Director:
Jerry Rothwell
World Premiere:
Sundance 2020
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Hot Docs, AFI Docs, Docs Against Gravity, London, ReelAbilities
About:
A profile of non-verbal autistic young people, based on the New York Times bestseller by Naoki Higashida.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
In Virtual Release: BEAUTIFUL SOMETHING LEFT BEHIND
Coming to virtual cinemas tomorrow, Friday, January 8:
BEAUTIFUL SOMETHING LEFT BEHIND
Director:
Katrine Philp
World Premiere:
SXSW 2020 (unscreened)
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Camden, Reykjavík, Nordisk Panorama, Haifa, Bergen, Montclair
About:
An intimate child’s eye view of a counseling center which focuses on mourning the loss of loved ones.
The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
New Jersey’s Good Grief counseling center offers a holistic approach to mourning. Filmmaker Katrine Philp presents viewers with a child’s perspective of its programs, offering an affectionate and intimate look at the lives of several children who have recently lost their parents and must navigate their grief by embracing sadness with honesty, bravery, humor, and love. The result is an enlightening film in which the students become our teachers in finding better ways of coping with loss.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
2021 Sundance Docs in Focus: CUSP
CUSP
Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt intimately chronicle the lives of three teenage girls in a Texas military town.
Festival Section:
US Documentary Competition
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
2021 Sundance Docs in Focus: AT THE READY
AT THE READY
Maisie Crow profiles Latinx teens in El Paso as they contemplate careers in border patrol and law enforcement against the backdrop of increasing xenophobia.
Festival Section:
US Documentary Competition
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
In Virtual Release: MY REMBRANDT
Coming to virtual cinemas today, Wednesday, January 6:
MY REMBRANDT
Director:
Oeke Hoogendijk
World Premiere:
IDFA 2019
Select Festivals:
Docs Against Gravity, Montclair, Vancouver, GlobeDocs, Docville, Cologne
About:
Profiles of various owners – private and institutional – of works by the Old Master.
While still limited to the elite, there are surprisingly more private owners of Rembrandt paintings than one might expect. Filmmaker Oeke Hoogendijk introduces viewers to a handful in her somewhat shambolic art world exploration, such as the amiable Richard Scott, the 10th Duke of Buccleuch, who renovates his sitting room to serve as the perfect backdrop for his beloved Rembrandt, Old Woman Reading; Baron Eric de Rothschild, whose Paris home is crammed full of remarkable work, including Portrait of Marten Soolmans and Portrait of Oopjen Coppit, a pair of Rembrandts that are sought by both the Louvre and the Rijksmuseum; and art dealer Jan Six XI, the latest in a family of Rembrandt collectors. Others float in and out of Hoogendijk’s film, which unfortunately has too much of a loose, episodic structure for most of its running time before settling in for the final stretch around a controversy around Six’s discovery (and sale) of a hitherto unknown new work by the Old Master.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
On TV: A THOUSAND CUTS
Coming to PBS’s Frontline this Friday, January 8:
A THOUSAND CUTS
Director:
Ramona Diaz
World Premiere:
Sundance 2020
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, SXSW, AFI Docs, Full Frame, San Francisco, Cleveland
About:
A chilling look at the assault on fundamental democratic freedoms in the Philippines.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
2021 Sundance Docs in Focus: ALL LIGHT, EVERYWHERE
ALL LIGHT, EVERYWHERE
Theo Anthony interrogates the idea of objectivity through the shared histories of cameras, weapons, policing, and justice.
Festival Section:
US Documentary Competition
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
2021 Sundance Docs in Focus: AILEY
AILEY
Jamila Wignot presents a revealing, moving portrait of pioneering choreographer Alvin Ailey.
Festival Section:
US Documentary Competition
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
2021 Sundance Docs in Focus
The 37th Sundance Film Festival takes place later this month, running January 28-February 3 both online and via satellite screens, with a lineup consisting of 71 features, 50 shorts, 4 episodics, and 14 exhibitions, performances, and VR experiences.
Once again, as I’ve done since 2011’s festival, I’ll profile each of the more than 30 feature and long-form episodic documentaries in advance of the festival, beginning tomorrow.
Please note: These are not reviews. As a Documentary Programming Associate for Sundance, I recommend every film in the 2021 lineup. These profiles instead provide background about the teams behind this year’s docs in anticipation of the festival and the films’ later release. For a sample, check out last year’s series, which began here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
what (not) to doc 