Category Archives: Documentary

New to DVD/VOD this week:
REINVENTING ROSALEE

Director:
Lillian Glass

Premiere:
Los Angeles Jewish 2018

About:
A portrait of a 102-year-old Holocaust survivor.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

New to DVD this week:
BARISTAS

Director:
Rock Baijnauth

Premiere:
VOD release (April 2019)

About:
Four national champion baristas prepare for the world championship in South Korea.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

New to DVD this week:
MY SCIENTOLOGY MOVIE

Director:
John Dower

Premiere:
BFI London 2015

Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Sheffield, Docville, Tribeca, Revelation, Reykjavik, Mill Valley, Austin

About:
British journalist Louis Theroux attempts to understand the Church of Scientology.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming back to theatres tomorrow, Wednesday, May 8:
THE SILENCE OF OTHERS

Directors:
Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar

Premiere:
Berlin 2018

Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Sheffield, AFI Docs, Reyjkavik, Docs Against Gravity, Cairo, Hamptons, Mar del Plata, Los Angeles, Moscow

Notable Recognition:
The doc was shortlisted for the Academy Awards.

About:
Victims and survivors of Franco’s brutal regime take to Argentine courts to seek justice.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

New to VOD this week:
LAST BREATH

Directors:
Alex Parkinson and Richard da Costa

Premiere:
Glasgow 2019

Select Festivals:
Hot Docs

About:
A commercial deep sea diver is stranded on the seabed with only minutes of air left.

In September 2012, diver Chris Lemons descended the North Sea on a routine maintenance operation for an oil well from the ship The Topaz. In the inhospitable dark and freezing water, Lemons’ literal lifeline is an umbilical cord stretching back up to the surface. When a computer glitch tears away the cord, Lemons has only five minutes of breathable air – but rescue is at least 30 minutes away. Parkinson and da Costa milk the suspense for all its worth, presenting Lemons’ story via interviews with his fellow divers and loved ones, archival recordings, and passable reenactments, all to to the purpose of misdirecting audience expectations as to the diver’s ultimate fate. It’s more or less successful, tapping into the survival thriller genre, even as it overplays the drama, and may find appeal among audiences not typically drawn to nonfiction.

Coming to PBS’s America ReFramed tomorrow, Tuesday, May 7:
NAILED IT

Director:
Adele Free Pham

Premiere:
CAAMFest 2018

Select Festivals:
New Orleans, Freep, Disorient, Asian/Asian American fests in Boston, Atlanta, Austin, and Seattle

About:
An exploration of the dominance of Vietnamese in the US nail industry.

The stereotype of the Vietnamese nail salon worker has spread through popular US culture via stand-up comedy and the like, but the truth at the heart of these often demeaning impersonations is that the Vietnamese community dominates the $8 billion nail industry both as salon owners and workers. Director Adele Free Pham, herself part Vietnamese, seeks out the reasons how and why this immigrant came to become so closely associated with nails, clunkily narrating and including herself within the film at times. She finds the answers in the influx of refugees from the Vietnam War and the surprising involvement of actress Tippi Hedren, intriguing history that is not developed sufficiently. Pham attempts to cover too much in this hourl-ong project, moving beyond the sociohistorical to (fleetingly) address present day issues that have dogged the industry in general, such as concerns over the toxicity of nail paints and other materials, and Vietnamese businesses in particular, including racist backlash and accusations of non-hygienic practices.