Category Archives: Documentary

September 11, 2019 · 1:31 PM

In Theatres: CRACKED UP

Coming to theatres this Friday, September 13:
CRACKED UP

Director:
Michelle Esrick

World Premiere:
DOC NYC 2018

About:
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE veteran Darrell Hammond opens up the impact of his childhood abuse.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
With courage and, of course, humor, master impressionist, comedian, and SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE legend Darrell Hammond reveals his dark history as a victim of child abuse. Brilliant in the spotlight, Darrell was misdiagnosed and wrongly medicated for decades, struggling with drugs, alcohol, and nightmarish flashbacks. Michelle Esrick’s poignant film illuminates the devastating effects of childhood trauma and the importance of setting repressed memories free. She artfully balances humor and tragedy to craft a beautiful story of hope and resilience.

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September 11, 2019 · 12:01 PM

Camden 2019: Documentary Overview

Festival:
The 15th Camden International Film Festival

Dates:
September 12-15

About:
This well-liked Maine nonfiction event presents more than 30 features, in addition to shorts, new media, and the Points North Forum, which features panels, workshops, masterclasses, industry meetings, and pitch sessions.

NARROWSBURG

While the bulk of the feature lineup consists of a well-curated selection of standout titles that have debuted elsewhere on the circuit over the past year, this year’s edition also presents several world premieres. Among these are: Martha Shane’s NARROWSBURG, an entertaining but cautionary tale about a late 1990s attempt to turn a small upstate New York town into the “Sundance of the East;” Ian Cheney’s THIRTEEN WAYS, which explores the different ways a range of individuals respond to the same patch of land; Michel Negroponte’s MY AUTONOMOUS NEIGHBOR, a collage-like portrait of an eccentric artist and philosopher; Vytautas Puidokas’ EL PADRE MÉDICO, a dark tale of a Lithuanian priest turned Amazon miracle worker; Daniel Vernon’s THE CHANGIN’ TIMES OF IKE WHITE, which explores what happened to a California prisoner who recorded an influential music album in 1974; and Andrea Kalin’s SCATTERING CJ, detailing how a mother’s attempts to deal with the suicide of her son became a viral phenomenon.

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September 10, 2019 · 3:02 PM

On DVD: WALKING ON WATER

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, September 10:
WALKING ON WATER

Director:
Andrey Paounov

Premiere:
Locarno 2018

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Toronto, Docudays UA

About:
A behind the scenes look at Christo’s long-gestating Floating Piers project.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

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September 10, 2019 · 1:31 PM

On DVD: ECHO IN THE CANYON

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, September 10:
ECHO IN THE CANYON

Director:
Andrew Slater

Premiere:
Los Angeles 2018

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Berkshire, Santa Barbara

About:
A look back at the 1960s Laurel Canyon music scene.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

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September 10, 2019 · 12:01 PM

On TV: THE FEUD

Photo courtesy Library of Congress

Coming to PBS’s American Experience tonight, Tuesday, September 10:
THE FEUD

Director:
Randall MacLowry

World Premiere:
American Experience (September 2019)

About:
An in-depth look at the legendary conflict between the Hatfields and the McCoys.

The feud between the rural West Virginia/Kentucky clans long ago entered into the popular consciousness, so much so that the families’ names are now synonymous with long-lasting rivalries. At the same time, the way their story has been told has had a lasting, deleterious impact on stereotypical perceptions of Appalachian mountain residents as uneducated, violent, and vengeful people. Director Randall MacLowry’s informative, if somewhat staid, profile, stands as a corrective, contextualizing the feud within the far more complex backdrop in which it developed – a story of industrialization and corporate landgrabbing that threatened the Appalachian way of life.

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September 9, 2019 · 3:02 PM

Special Screening: THE GAME CHANGERS

Coming to NYC’s Cinematters series at the JCC Manhattan tomorrow, Tuesday, September 10:
THE GAME CHANGERS

Director:
Louie Psihoyos

World Premiere:
Sundance 2018

Select Festivals:
Berlin, Hot Docs, Thessaloniki Doc, Mountainfilm, Boulder, Washington DC Environmental, EarthxFilm

About:
An exploration of the misconceptions and truths about plant-based diets.

I profiled the doc before Sundance here.

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Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance

September 9, 2019 · 1:31 PM

On TV: GRIT

Coming to PBS’s POV tonight, Monday, September 9:
GRIT

Directors:
Cynthia Wade and Sasha Friedlander

World Premiere:
Hot Docs 2018

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Full Frame, Hamptons, Big Sky Doc, Bergen, One World, Mill Valley, GlobeDocs, Hawaii, Movies That Matter, Ashland, Doc Edge, Salem, Atlanta, Environmental fests in Washington DC, Princeton, and Yale

About:
In East Java, Indonesia, a mother and daughter battle a corporation over a man-made catastrophe.

The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
In 2006 a rush of molten mud exploded in East Java, Indonesia, flooding 16 villages and displacing more than 60,000 people; 12 years later the hot sludge is still flowing. Grit profiles one girl’s awakening to activism as her family campaigns against the corporation responsible for the man-made catastrophe. Cynthia Wade and Sasha Friedlander spent six years capturing the unworldly reality of East Java’s ecological disaster with breathtaking cinematography and a patient eye for the youth coming of age amid the mudflow.