Category Archives: Documentary

New to VOD this week:
THE STAND: HOW ONE GESTURE SHOOK THE WORLD

Director:
Tom Ratcliffe and Becky Paige

World Premiere:
GlobeDocs Presents 2018

About:
An in-depth look back at the iconic but controversial protest staged by two African-American Olympians in 1968.

When Tommie Smith and John Carlos, two sprinters from Team USA, approached the 200m winners’ podium during the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, they carried their shoes and both wore black gloves. When the American national anthem played, they bowed their heads and raised their gloved fists, protesting racial inequality in the US with the world’s attention. As a result, they were booed as they left the stadium and, soon thereafter, were forced to leave the games and, back in America, faced stigma that effectively ended whatever further sports careers they might have had. Filmmakers Tom Ratcliffe and Becky Paige revisit this indelible moment, which continues to resonate in the cultural consciousness through the actions of modern-day sports figures like Colin Kaepernick, but, most importantly, they provide the wider context that led these principled athletes to take their stand. Leading up to the Olympics was a very public debate about whether the games were an appropriate site for politics and protest, with African-American athletes and some staunch allies threatening a boycott, and the head of the International Olympic Committee standing firm that any political actions would not be tolerated – this from a man who did not object to the 1936 Olympics taking place amidst frequent Nazi salutes. While hampered by an incessant score and too reliant on talking heads, the film illuminates a valuable chapter in the history of athletics and social justice that remains instructive today.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, August 4:
CODE OF THE FREAKS

Director:
Salome Chasnoff

World Premiere:
ReelAbilities Boston 2020 (online)

Select Festivals:
ReelAbilities NY, ReelAbilities Toronto, Southern Circuit

About:
Disability through a filmic lens.

Like THE CELLULOID CLOSET, the the 1995 documentary on LGBT representation in film, Salome Chasnoff’s project assembles disability activists, filmmakers, film historians, and actors – all from within the larger US disability community – to comment on film clips that demonstrate various aspects, tropes, and stereotypes of the representation of disability on screen. Opening and closing with Tod Browning’s 1932 horror film FREAKS, which lends it its title, Chasnoff’s doc singles out Browning’s tale as one of insiderness in contrast to the representation of disability as an outsider condition to be pitied, cured, or inspired by, as is the case in most other mainstream films. Commentators discuss pervasive stereotypes – from overcoming disability and cliched inspiration tales to the interplay of disability with race, gender, and (lack of) sexuality, as well as particularly dangerous tropes like disabled characters preferring death to disability. Referencing a mix of films – some well-known, others very obscure – the doc explores the importance of parsing these limited representations and the impact, unconscious or otherwise, that they have on the general public’s perception of the disabled community. While a worthwhile and timely project, its conventional, talking heads focused approach becomes somewhat repetitive and reductive, making it function primarily as a work of advocacy and education.