Coming to theatres this Friday, October 25:
LIBERTY: MOTHER OF EXILES
Directors:
Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato
World Premiere:
HBO (October 2019)
About:
A tribute to the Statue of Liberty.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Category Archives: Documentary
In Theatres: LIBERTY: MOTHER OF EXILES
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
On DVD/VOD: SISTERS OF THE WILDERNESS
Coming to DVD and VOD today, Tuesday, October 22:
SISTERS OF THE WILDERNESS
Director:
Karin Slater
World Premiere:
Encounters 2018
Select Festivals:
Rotterdam, DOK.fest Munich, Durban, Cape Town, Trinidad & Tobago,
About:
Five young Zulu women explore their heritage through a pilgrimage into the wild.
Karin Slater’s film follows the women and their guides as they prepare to head into and spend time trekking through the iMfolozi game reserve in South Africa. As the participants are led through the wilderness, they learn about the impact of mining and poaching on the wildlife in the reserve, and they bond, eventually revealing stories of loss and grief, from losing family members or children to sickness and incidents of sexual assault. Schooled in ancestral Zulu teachings by an elder who accompanies then, they learn respect for the land and connect with it, feeling transformed. That said, the film itself never quite manages to capture or convey exactly what is so transformative about this experience. The result is a project that seems to aim for a sense of the profound but instead often feels like an awkward and incomplete combination of personal stories and conservation information, with subjects who are never quite individuated enough.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
On DVD: DAVID CROSBY: REMEMBER MY NAME
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, October 22:
DAVID CROSBY: REMEMBER MY NAME
Director:
AJ Eaton
World Premiere:
Sundance 2019
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, SXSW, Santa Barbara, Sun Valley, Seattle, Revelation Perth, Boulder
About:
A candid, warts and all portrait of the rock and roll legend.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
NewFest 2019: Documentary Overview
Festival:
The 31st NewFest
Dates:
October 23-29
About:
Nonfiction makes up about just under half of the features lineup of New York’s LGBTQ film festival, an event I oversaw between 1996-2008. Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
On TV: INTELLIGENT LIVES
Coming to PBS’s America ReFramed tomorrow, Tuesday, October 22:
INTELLIGENT LIVES
Director:
Dan Habib
World Premiere:
ReelAbilities Boston 2018
Select Festivals:
Cleveland, Ashland, Bentonville, IFF Boston, Martha’s Vineyard, Rhode Island, Newburyport Doc
About:
Profiles of three individuals demonstrate the capabilities of people with intellectual disabilities.
Recognizing the limited opportunities afforded people with intellectual disabilities, resulting in higher rates of poverty, unemployment, and general self-determination, Dan Habib’s film seeks to present positive and inspiring stories that serve as a corrective. Framed by a consideration of the history of the IQ test and how it has been used and misused, often against the disenfranchised members of society, like the poor and people of color, the film also sketches the strides made over the past half century in making America more inclusive to people with disabilities. The bulk of the film consists of portraits of three young people as they push beyond the expectations in place for those with intellectual differences: Naieer expresses himself through art in an integrated high school curriculum, and hopes to pursue it in college; Micah is completing a college degree in disability studies, while taking tentative steps in dating; and Naomie goes through a job training program to become more self-sufficient. Habib’s filmmaking is a bit simple and conventional, but generally effective in its mission to show the impact of greater inclusivity on real people.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
On DVD: THE SENTENCE
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, October 22:
THE SENTENCE
Director:
Rudy Valdez
Premiere:
Sundance 2018
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Nantucket, Locarno, Traverse City, Montclair, Sarasota, Urbanworld, Thin Line, Provincetown, LA Latino, Aspen Ideas, SF Jewish, Freep, GlobeDocs
About:
A filmmaker reveals the personal impact of mandatory minimum sentencing laws on his own family.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
On TV: BLOWIN’ UP
Coming to POV tonight, Monday, October 21:
BLOWIN’ UP
Director:
Stephanie Wang-Breal
Premiere:
Tribeca 2018
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, AFI Docs, DMZ Docs, Camden, Big Sky Doc, Hot Springs Doc, Antenna Doc, New Orleans, AFI Fest, San Diego Asian, Martha’s Vineyard
About:
A look at a unique NYC courtroom that assists sex workers and trafficked women.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
In Theatres & On VOD: TELL ME WHO I AM
Coming to theatres and to Netflix today, Friday, October 18:
TELL ME WHO I AM
Director:
Ed Perkins
World Premiere:
Telluride 2019
Select Festivals:
London, Hamptons
About:
After a teenager loses his memory following a motorcycle accident, his twin brother selectively retells their past.
In 1982, 18-year-old Alex Lewis woke from his motorcycle crash with his memory wiped, only recognizing his identical twin, Marcus. He remembered nothing else – not his strange parents, girlfriend, or any details of the past. Returning to their unsettling, sprawling home, Alex depended on Marcus to fill in the blanks. Soon, Marcus realized this presented an opportunity to edit their shared history, to benefit them both. In Ed Perkins’ film – which follows a 2013 book by the same name – Alex and Marcus speak directly to the camera, separately for the first two sections, then together for the emotionally cathartic third, relating this singular situation. Very well constructed as a mystery, and in some ways mirroring Alex’s own experiences of having to reconstruct the past based on only partial information, the film contains extremely disturbing surprises that are best experienced with no foreknowledge.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
In Theatres: SERENDIPITY
Coming to theatres today, Friday, October 18:
SERENDIPITY
Director:
Prune Nourry
World Premiere:
Berlin 2019
Select Festivals:
Tribeca, Doc Fortnight, Mill Valley
About:
A personal reflection of the filmmaker/artist’s work after a breast cancer diagnosis.
Prune Nourry is a multidisciplinary French artist, based in NYC, whose work in sculpture, performance, and photography has focused on gender, women’s rights, reproduction, and their intersection with science. Her feature film debut is part of a multiplatform project that included a Paris solo show and book, and is informed by a breast cancer diagnosis. Before beginning chemotherapy, she has her eggs harvested and frozen for potential future use. This eerily echoes projects she has completed in the past following other women going through the same procedure, and serves as the lead-in to a meditation on other past work, as well as her artistic response in the present, going hand-in-hand with activities related to her treatment. It’s a precarious balance between artistic survey and personal chronicle of a life-threatening disease, and, to Nourry’s credit, she manage this for the most part.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
In Theatres: THE CAVE
Coming to theatres today, Friday, October 18:
THE CAVE
Director:
Feras Fayyad
World Premiere:
Toronto 2019
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, London, Hamptons, Camden, Double Exposure, Mill Valley, Heartland, Tallgrass, Virginia
About:
A female doctor defies patriarchal expectations to lead an underground hospital in Syria.
The film screens as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
THE CAVE takes us to a subterranean landscape that feels akin to the post-apocalyptic world of MAD MAX. Warlords have made the earth’s surface uninhabitable in Syria, so medical workers led by Dr Amani Ballor, a female pediatrician, have created a hospital underground the city of Ghouta, near Damascus. Oscar®-nominated Syrian filmmaker Feras Fayyad spent two years capturing the resilience, dedication, and love that keeps them going.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
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