Festival:
The 11th BAMcinemaFest
Dates:
June 12-23
About:
Nearly half of this well-curated Brooklyn event’s lineup consists of docs. Continue reading
Category Archives: Documentary
BAMcinemaFest 2019: Documentary Overview
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
On DVD: CIELO
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, June 11:
CIELO
Director:
Alison McAlpine
Premiere:
New York Film Festival 2017
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, RIDM, Full Frame, DOXA, Karlovy Vary, SANFIC
About:
A meditation on the night sky above Chile.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
On DVD: CONSTRUCTING ALBERT
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, June 11:
CONSTRUCTING ALBERT
Directors:
Laura Collado and Jim Loomis
Premiere:
San Sebastian 2017
Select Festivals:
SXSW, Hot Docs, Seattle, BAFICI, Palm Springs, Guadalajara, DocPoint, Napa Valley, Newport Beach
About:
After the legendary success of elBulli, chef Albert Adria pursues his follow-ups.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
On DVD: WRESTLE
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, June 11:
WRESTLE
Director:
Suzannah Herbert
Co-Director:
Lauren Belfer
Premiere:
San Francisco 2018
Select Festivals:
New Orleans, Traverse City, Rooftop Films, Denver, Indie Memphis, Bahamas, Woodstock, Hot Springs Doc, Milwaukee, Oxford
About:
An intimate look at a Huntsville AL high school wrestling team.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Special Screenings: THE EDGE OF DEMOCRACY
photo by Orlando Brito
THE EDGE OF DEMOCRACY
Director:
Petra Costa
World Premiere:
Sundance 2019
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Hot Docs, CPH:DOX, San Francisco, Montclair, IndieLisboa, Biografilm
About:
A cautionary tale about Brazil’s recent political scandals.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
On TV: ICE ON FIRE
Coming to HBO tomorrow night, Tuesday, June 11:
ICE ON FIRE
Director:
Leila Conners
World Premiere:
Cannes 2019
About:
A look at how the world can reverse climate change.
Despite the efforts of climate change denialists, the scientific community overwhelmingly has demonstrated the reality of the escalating crisis mankind has caused due to carbon emissions and the exploitation and depletion of fossil fuels. There have been countless documentaries exploring the impending doom the planet faces unless we change our ways and force political leaders to take steps to ameliorate the situation through legislation – a particularly challenging task under the present fact-free and science-phobic administration. Into the breach comes another climate change doc, which, like 2016’s BEFORE THE FLOOD, features Leonardo DiCaprio. Unlike the previous film, DiCaprio appears here only as narrator, and, in what will likely be a welcome approach for the more casual viewer, this current project attempts to focus on solutions more than ion scaring audiences with doom-and-gloom prognostications. That’s not to say that it completely avoids the latter, of course, but to director Leila Conners’ credit, there’s something of a lighter and more hopeful approach – perhaps too optimistic, but it’s a change of pace. She helms a well produced project here, with some nice graphics and cinematography, but her film suffers from a certain episodic blandness, consisting primarily of a survey of what feels like dozens of scientists, as well as the odd firefighter or fisherman, who each too-briefly comment on some element of their work connected with climate change before the scene change and DiCaprio introduces the next in line. While likely to appeal primarily to those viewers who are already concerned about climate change, the doc’s solutions-oriented approach might draw in some who have felt a certain amount of looming-disaster fatigue, but probably won’t leave a dramatic impression nor reach skeptics.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Special Screening: JAMILIA
Coming to NYC’s DCTV screening series tonight, Monday, June 10:
JAMILIA
Director:
Aminatou Echard
World Premiere:
Berlin 2018
Select Festivals:
Cinéma du Réel, Jerusalem, DocumentaMadrid, Vancouver, Open City Docs
About:
An exploration of the cultural impact of a 1958 Kyrgyz novella and its titular heroine.
Chinghiz Aitmatov captured the attention of Kyrgyz society with his story of a married woman who goes against societal restrictions when she falls in love with a young man while her soldier husband is away during World War II. Here Aminatou Echard asks present-day Kyrgyz women to recount the novella and comment on the actions of its heroine. Their reflections are presented in voiceover while grainy, evocative Super-8 footage shows them – and other women – in various settings and activities, the disconnect and texture of the film suggesting a kind of time displacement. As they discuss the novel, they explicitly or implicitly draw connections to their own lives, and especially to the constraints put upon them as women within a traditional male-dominated society. While the story is well known in Kyrgyzstan, that is not the case outside the region, limiting a general audience’s engagement with that aspect of the film. The women’s candid commentary about their own place in society is certainly more universally resonant, but the experimental approach taken creates a distancing effect over time. It’s an artful approach, but wears thin over its running time, and might have been more successful as a short.
Filed under Documentary, Film
On TV: TO A MORE PERFECT UNION: US V WINDSOR
Coming to PBS’s World Channel today, Monday, June 10:
TO A MORE PERFECT UNION
Director:
Donna Zaccaro
Premiere:
Woodstock 2017
Select Festivals:
Nashville, Rocky Mountain Women’s, Inside Out, LGBT fests in Boston and Miami
About:
The decades-long love between a lesbian couple serves to revisit the story of marriage equality in the US.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
In Theatres: THE LAVENDER SCARE
Coming to theatres today, Friday, June 7:
THE LAVENDER SCARE
Director:
Josh Howard
World Premiere:
qFLIX Philadelphia 2017
Select Festivals:
Virginia, Sun Valley, Frameline, Inside Out, LGBT fests in Sydney, San Diego, Seattle, Portland, Atlanta, Rochester, Austin, Miami, and Palm Springs
About:
A look back at the Cold War era panic over gays in the government.
In 1953, President Dwight Eisenhower declared war on homosexuals, specifically ordering their purge from the federal government. Motivated by fears over Communist espionage, the premise was that lesbians and gays, forced to break the law to indulge their desires, would be easy marks for blackmail by Russian agents seeking access to government secrets. The result was the destruction of careers, and in some cases lives, as explored through several brief profiles in Josh Howard’s serviceable if sometimes clunky project. While most individuals who were discriminated against had no choice but to go quietly, however, one man, astronomer Franklin Kameny, decided to fight back. Seeking redress for the injustice that ended his scientific career, he sought audience with any politician who might listen, and formed the Washington DC chapter of the gay rights activist organization The Mattachine Society. Howard provides viewers with a worthwhile history lesson about discrimination and resistance, particularly at a time of a present-day administration that is hostile to the victories won by LGBT people.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
On VOD: IF I LEAVE HERE TOMORROW: A FILM ABOUT LYNYRD SKYNYRD
IF I LEAVE HERE TOMORROW: A FILM ABOUT LYNYRD SKYNYRD
IF I LEAVE HERE TOMORROW: A FILM ABOUT LYNYRD SKYNYRD
Director:
Stephen Kijak
World Premiere:
SXSW 2018
Select Festivals:
Cleveland, Nashville, Macon, deadCenter
About:
A history and appreciation of the legendary Southern rock band.
In his latest music doc, director Stephen Kijak chronicles the sometimes tragic history of the iconic band behind “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Free Bird,” particularly focusing on the 1977 plane crash that claimed the lives of frontman Ronnie Van Zant and several others. Taking a largely chronological approach, the well-produced film tracks the origins and early years of the Jacksonville FL band, and details how the hardworking bandmates crossed over with their honky-tonk Americana. While Kijak addresses the band’s adoption of the controversial Confederate flag as a symbol – mandated by their record company – the warm film otherwise steers fairly clear of overt politics to relate instead the closeness of its members, the consequences of the plane crash, and the continued impact of Van Zant’s loss more than four decades ago.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
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