Coming to VOD tomorrow, Friday, May 3:
IN SEARCH OF GREATNESS
Director:
Gabe Polsky
Premiere:
Chicago 2018
About:
An exploration of the qualities that lead to athletic excellence.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Category Archives: Documentary
On VOD: IN SEARCH OF GREATNESS
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
In Theatres: ASK DR RUTH
photo by David Paul Jacobson
ASK DR RUTH
Director:
Ryan White
Premiere:
Sundance 2019
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Tribeca, San Francisco, Full Frame, Miami, IFF Boston, Miami Jewish
About:
A profile of the world-famous sex therapist and Holocaust survivor, Dr Ruth Westheimer.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Special Screening: FOSTER
Coming to NYC’s Pure Nonfiction at IFC Center tomorrow, Thursday, May 2:
FOSTER
Director:
Mark Jonathan Harris
Premiere:
AFI Docs 2018
About:
An inside look at America’s foster care system.
Los Angeles County, which has the largest child welfare agency in the US, is the focus of Oscar winning director Mark Jonathan Harris’ expansive exploration of the world of foster care. Among the sobering statistics revealed early in the film, there are 4 million reports of neglect or abuse of minors in the nation, representing 1 in 8 children, with more than 400,000 of them ending up within the foster care system. In addition to sharing the candid stories of current and former foster kids and foster parents, the film offers the perspectives of others who are part of the system, including social workers and legal advocates. While Harris takes on a bit too much, making the project feel somewhat choppy and overlong at times, he succeeds in offering a humanizing corrective to conventional, often negative, portrayals of the world of foster care.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
On DVD: CHARLEY PRIDE: I’M JUST ME
New to DVD this week:
CHARLEY PRIDE: I’M JUST ME
Director:
Barbara Hall
Premiere:
Belmont University, Nashville (January 2019)
About:
The story of the Negro League baseball player turned pioneering country music star.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
In Theatres & On VOD: KNOCK DOWN THE HOUSE
Coming to theatres and to Netflix tomorrow, Wednesday, May 1:
KNOCK DOWN THE HOUSE
Director:
Rachel Lears
Premiere:
Sundance 2019
Select Festivals:
SXSW, Hot Docs, True/False, Full Frame, Athena, Miami, San Francisco, Chicago Doc 10
About:
Four progressive political newcomers – including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – seek to unseat entrenched incumbents.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
On DVD/VOD: THAT WAY MADNESS LIES…
Coming to DVD and VOD today, Tuesday, April 30:
THAT WAY MADNESS LIES…
Director:
Sandra Luckow
Premiere:
Northwest Film Center (May 2017)
Select Festivals:
Hot Springs Women’s, Richmond
About:
The filmmaker is drawn into the financial, emotional, and legal mess of her brother’s mental health issues.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Special Screening: CHASING THE THUNDER
CHASING THE THUNDER
CHASING THE THUNDER
Directors:
Mark Benjamin and Marc Levin
Premiere:
Washington DC Environmental 2018
Select Festivals:
Miami, Newport Beach, EarthxFilm
About:
Environmental activists doggedly pursue notorious poachers for 110 days at sea.
Originally presented as part of the six-part Animal Planet docuseries OCEAN WARRIORS, this feature-length recut focuses on the efforts of marine conservation activists from Sea Shepherd to stop the destructive, illegal fishing of the Thunder. Long plaguing marine life with illegal nets and overfishing, the Thunder is spotted by Sea Shepherd vessel the Bob Barker, setting off an epic chase over 10,000 miles, from the Antarctic to the South Atlantic, over 110 days. As the Bob Barker crew attempts to arrest the Thunder, and, most importantly, gather evidence of their wrongdoing, they face attacks and intimidation. Ultimately, the Thunder’s captain makes a shocking, desperate move that serves as an unbelievable end to this engaging eco-thriller doc.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
On TV: DEATH OF A CHILD
Coming to PBS’s America ReFramed tomorrow, Tuesday, April 30:
DEATH OF A CHILD
Directors:
Frida Barkfors and Lasse Barkfors
Premiere:
Göteborg 2017
Select Festivals:
CPH:DOX, Docudays, Giffoni
About:
A thoughtful portrait of parents who have inadvertently caused their own children’s deaths.
Parents are genetically hardwired to care for their offspring, making child abuse, filicide, or neglect so incomprehensible to many, despite their unfortunate frequency. Having become parents themselves, the Barkfors explore a parental nightmare that is surprisingly commonplace but subject to social stigma and harsh judgement: causing the death of a child by heatstroke after forgetting it in one’s car. Through the stories of several individuals who experienced this tragic, inadvertent memory lapse, the film seeks to make sense of the senseless and challenge society’s quickness to condemn them as monsters or bad parents. The Barkfors approach a difficult topic, which is typically sensationalized, with sensitivity and compassion.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
In Theatres: BE NATURAL: THE UNTOLD STORY OF ALICE GUY-BLACHÉ
Coming to theatres today, Friday, April 26:
BE NATURAL: THE UNTOLD STORY OF ALICE GUY-BLACHÉ
Director:
Pamela B Green
Premiere:
Cannes 2018
Select Festivals:
Telluride, New York, London, Deauville, Rio, Göteborg
About:
Unearthing the largely forgotten story of the world’s first female film director.
In 1894, at the dawn of film, Alice Guy began to work at Gaumont, where she soon became head of production, and the first woman to direct – and, by some accounts, the first person to focus on narrative storytelling rather than simply creating reels that demonstrated the new technology. After a decade at Gaumont, she relocated to America, and married, forming her own studio, Solax. Though she was responsible for over 1000 films, she was eventually written out of the history books, her work often credited to male subordinates by skeptical male film historians. While cinema studies scholars and silent film aficionados might know about her, to the rest of the world, she is basically forgotten. Pamela B Green’s documentary aims to rectify that injustice, serving as a comprehensive biography of Guy-Blaché and an appreciation of her films and achievements. At the same time, Green uses a personal quest structure, charting her research, including the fortuitous discoveries she made, perhaps as a way to liven the proceedings up a bit, or maybe just to show how much Guy-Blaché had fallen into obscurity. To be frank, this isn’t really necessary or particularly compelling, but thankfully doesn’t derail the project as a whole, which remains a worthwhile corrective to the pioneering filmmaker’s legacy.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
In Theatres: CHASING PORTRAITS
Coming to theatres today, Friday, April 26:
CHASING PORTRAITS
Director:
Elizabeth Rynecki
Premiere:
Jewish Motifs Warsaw 2018
Select Festivals:
St Louis, Rhode Island, Southern Circuit, Jewish fests in San Francisco, Boston, Jerusalem, New York, Miami, and Palm Springs
About:
The filmmaker takes a quest around the world to find her great-grandfather’s lost art.
Moshe Rynecki lived in Poland and painted everyday scenes of Jewish life before being sent to a concentration camp during WWII, where he was killed. While his family managed to keep some of his artwork, most was lost during the war. Decades later, Moshe’s great-granddaughter, Elizabeth, who grew up fascinated by his paintings, begins to showcase his work online, and, in the process, discovers other work in museums and private collections around the world. She sets out to see this work, often running up against obstacles by institutions or individuals who appear frightened that she will attempt to lay claim to Moshe’s art, but Elizabeth’s interest, while personal, is ultimately more historical and cultural. The result of her travels is both a book and this documentary project, which, to its detriment, is more about her search than it is about Moshe’s work. Clunkily narrating every step of her journey, and employing home movie-like production values, this is a very personal, very homegrown project. In this way, it functions as a testimony about the horrific consequences of the Holocaust on families, but, as valuable as that is, it’s one served by a large body of films. Consequently, what gets somewhat short shrift are the issues uniquely central to Moshe and his artwork.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
