New to digital download via HBO this week:
ICE ON FIRE
Director:
Leila Conners
World Premiere:
Cannes 2019
About:
A look at how the world can reverse climate change.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Category Archives: Documentary
On VOD: ICE ON FIRE
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
On DVD: WHERE’S MY ROY COHN?
photo by Ap/REX/Shutterstock
WHERE’S MY ROY COHN?
Director:
Matt Tyrnauer
World Premiere:
Sundance 2019
Select Festivals:
Zurich, Atlantic, New Zealand
About:
An exploration of the dark influence of Machiavellian attorney Roy Cohn on today’s polarized political landscape.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
92nd Oscars: Best Documentary Shortlist Announced
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced the Best Documentary Feature and Best Documentary Short Subject shortlists today. In addition, one documentary feature is included on the International Feature Film shortlist. Congratulations to all the filmmakers – especially the Sundance, DOC NYC, and Nantucket Film Festival alumni represented.
The official lists are below, with links to my previous coverage, where applicable. The final nominees will be announced on January 13.
Documentary Feature:
ADVOCATE
AMERICAN FACTORY
THE APOLLO
APOLLO 11
AQUARELA
THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM
THE CAVE
THE EDGE OF DEMOCRACY
FOR SAMA
THE GREAT HACK
HONEYLAND
KNOCK DOWN THE HOUSE
MAIDEN
MIDNIGHT FAMILY
ONE CHILD NATION
Documentary Short Subject:
After Maria
Fire in Paradise
Ghosts of Sugar Land
In the Absence
Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl)
Life Overtakes Me
The Nightcrawlers
St. Louis Superman
Stay Close
Walk Run Cha-Cha
International Feature Film
North Macedonia, HONEYLAND
Czech Republic, THE PAINTED BIRD
Estonia, TRUTH AND JUSTICE
France, LES MISERABLES
Hungary, THOSE WHO REMAINED
North Macedonia, HONEYLAND
Poland, CORPUS CHRISTI
Russia, BEANPOLE
Senegal, ATLANTICS
South Korea, PARASITE
Spain, PAIN AND GLORY
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
Special Screening: THE RABBI GOES WEST
Coming to the JCC Manhattan tomorrow, Tuesday, December 17:
THE RABBI GOES WEST
Directors:
Gerald Peary and Amy Geller
World Premiere:
San Francisco Jewish 2019
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Vancouver, Jewish fests in Boston, Birmingham, Jerusalem, and Miami
About:
A Brooklyn transplant to Montana attempts to evangelize his strand of Hasidic Judaism.
The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
A Hasidic rabbi relocates from Brooklyn, New York to Bozeman, Montana with the hopes of spreading Chabad – his brand of orthodox practice – throughout “Big Sky Country.” As his prominence grows in the state, he faces neo-Nazi threats and resistance from members of the established Jewish community in Montana. The delicate balance between traditional values and the libertarian ethos of the American West is explored through one man’s relationship with his faith.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
On TV: WELL GROOMED
Coming to HBO tomorrow, Tuesday, December 17:
WELL GROOMED
Director:
Rebecca Stern
World Premiere:
SXSW 2019
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, San Francisco, Cleveland, Montclair, Sarasota, RiverRun, Bentonville, Maui, Woods Hole, Thin Line Doc, Newport Beach
About:
A portrait of competitive creative dog groomers.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
On TV: ATTLA
Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens tonight, Monday, December 16:
ATTLA
Director:
Catharine Axley
World Premiere:
BendFilm 2019
Select Festivals:
Heartland, Banff, SF American Indian, Anchorage
About:
Champion dogsled racer George Attla passes on his knowledge to his grandnephew.
With a career spanning 1958-2011, indigenous Alaskan George Attla was a legendary dog musher, winning nearly 20 championships before retiring. Director Catharine Axley follows Attla in his twilight years, after the champion began a youth program in his rural home town, the village of Huslia, continuing the indigenous tradition of dog mushing. In addition to relating his underdog story – childhood tuberculosis led to a disconnect with his family, culture, and language, in addition to serious physical limitations – the film chronicles Attla’s mentorship of his 20-year-old grandnephew, Joe Bifelt. While this intergenerational training helps liven up the more standard biographical elements, the project could have benefited from expanding beyond its television length to become more compelling.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
In Theatres: FINDING THE WAY HOME
Coming to theatres today, Friday, December 13:
FINDING THE WAY HOME
Directors:
Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
World Premiere:
NYC (December 2019)
About:
The stories of several formerly institutionalized children who were given a second chance.
Globally, children fall prey to disreputable or illegal orphanages or other institutions that promise desperate parents a better environment and educational opportunities but instead neglect, abuse, or traffic their sons and daughters for profit. Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill profile eight children, some with disabilities, who fortunately escaped this dark fate through the efforts of organizations that help to reunite families, find foster parents, and shut down criminal enterprises. Bringing viewers to far-flung lands including Moldova, Nepal, and Haiti, the doc offers heartbreaking stories of exploitation and greed, balanced with hopeful outcomes. The most eye-opening segment follows a Haitian pastor who has had his squalid orphanage closed by authorities, but goes on to open an equally overcrowded and filthy new children’s home. Taking a survey approach that unfortunately proves limiting, Alpert and O’Neill offer only brief sketches of the youth and their guardians, and unfortunately are unable to go into much detail, but the film still proves affecting.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Sundance 2020: New Frontier Announced
This post is a pointer to the third lineup announcement for the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. This year’s selections in the New Frontier section may be found here.
Already announced are the films in the US and World Cinema Documentary and Dramatic Competitions, NEXT, Documentary Premieres, Premieres, Midnight, Spotlight, and Kids sections, as well as the Indie Episodic, Special Events, and Shorts lineups.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations, Sundance
On DVD: LINDA RONSTADT: THE SOUND OF MY VOICE
New to DVD this week:
LINDA RONSTADT: THE SOUND OF MY VOICE
Directors:
Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman
World Premiere:
Tribeca 2019
Select Festivals:
Provincetown, AFI Docs, Atlantic
About:
A look back at the celebrated pop artist’s career.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
On DVD/Digital: HOLLY NEAR: SINGING FOR OUR LIVES
New to DVD and digital this week:
HOLLY NEAR: SINGING FOR OUR LIVES
Director:
Jim Brown
Premiere:
Mill Valley 2018
About:
The story of the singer-songwriter and how her music fueled decades of activism.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
what (not) to doc 