Category Archives: Documentary

Coming to PBS tomorrow, Wednesday, April 10:
OZONE HOLE: HOW WE SAVED THE PLANET

Director:
Jamie Lochhead

Premiere:
InScience 2018

About:
A look back at how the world came together to address a potential global catastrophe.

At a time when the US has a climate change denialist in the most powerful office in the land, and when international efforts to reduce carbon emissions regularly fall short, unlikely hope for the world’s future comes from revisiting a past case of environmental peril in this doc. Jamie Lochhead’s doc takes viewers back to the 1980s, when critical mass about the impact of chlorofluorocarbons on Earth’s ozone layer led to the world’s first global treaty to address pollution, the Montreal Protocol. Employing flashy and playful graphics, archival, and score to punch up this otherwise rote PBS special, Lochhead quickly recounts how chemist Thomas Midgley Jr developed CFCs, which soon became commonplace in everyday products, their impact on the atmosphere not recognized for decades, and, even then, subject to dismissal by the powerful chemical industry. The doc recounts the steps taken to alert the public to the potentially life-threatening effects – including using the popularity of ALL IN THE FAMILY to spread the word – and to convince President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (herself a trained chemist) to take steps to ban the offending CFCs. While certain segments of the audience might bristle at the valorization of these two rightwing political figures, their present-day conservative admirers watching now might learn a lesson or two about the similar need to listen to real scientists and act on climate change today.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, April 9:
THE GOSPEL OF EUREKA

Directors:
Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher

Premiere:
SXSW 2018

Select Festivals:
Sheffield, AFI Docs, Nashville, BAMcinemaFest, Provincetown, Indie Grits, Ashland, Frameline, Portland QDoc

About:
A small Arkansas town hosts both a spectacular Passion Play and a gospel drag show.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens tonight, Monday, April 8:
THE PROVIDERS

Directors:
Anna Moot-Levin and Laura Green

Premiere:
Full Frame 2018

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, AFI Docs, SF DocFest, DOClahoma, DocUtah, GlobeDocs, United Nations Association, Virginia, Rocky Mountain Women’s, Big Sky Doc, Sebastopol Doc, Cleveland,

About:
A portrait of healthcare workers who serve a rural community facing serious challenges.

The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Northern New Mexico: An area hard hit by the opioid crisis and still reeling from the 2008 recession. Exploring a community with few public resources and a depressed population, Anna Moot-Levin and Laura Green’s film profiles three healthcare providers working for El Centro, a safety-net clinic network covering 22,000 square miles that serves those without agency, health insurance, or financial resources. Each healthcare practitioner has his/her own very personal encounters with addiction that fuels a fervent desire to help others combat illness. Their superhuman actions form both an uplifting story about the capacity for human kindness and a stark reminder of the healthcare crisis in rural America and beyond.

Coming to theatres today, Friday, April 5:
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.

Judge Toko Serita presides over the Queens Human Trafficking Intervention Court, a courtroom that offers counseling rather than punishment, recognizing that, for many women, coercion has played a key role in their involvement in sex work. Taking a largely observational approach, Wang-Breal drops the viewer in the midst of the courtroom activity without any immediate context, making for an initially disorienting experience that in some ways matches the perspective of the largely undocumented Asian defendants that face Serita’s bench. Soon enough, it’s clear that the film will be focusing on the women who make the courtroom work, rather than on individual defendants – though brief testimony and counseling sessions with the latter are heard. The bulk of the doc’s time is spent within the court with Serita and other dedicated figures, including Assistant District Attorney Kim Affronti and, most notably, Eliza Hook, a counselor from partner organization GEMS (Girls Educational and Mentoring Services) as they serve a truly positive and effective role in trafficked women’s lives as the latter try to leave the life (the meaning of the film’s title). If the film makes a slight misstep, it’s in following some of these subjects outside of the court, such as an extended thread involving Serita’s sick father, as a means to round them out further, something that, while admirable, ultimately feels unnecessary and too disconnected from the film’s true focus. Beyond that minor issue, Wang-Breal crafts a compelling and largely inspiring portrait – though the spectre of a newly-elected Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants late in the film tempers the mood somewhat.

New to VOD via Vimeo on Demand this week:
HELLO HELLO HELLO : LEE RANALDO : ELECTRIC TRIM

Director:
Fred Riedel

Premiere:
Montclair 2017

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Doc’n Roll

About:
A behind-the-scenes look at a musician’s collaborative creative process.

The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Legendary Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo embarks on the recording of a new experimental concept album with a little help from some friends, including Spanish producer Raül Refree and acclaimed novelist Jonathan Lethem, serving here as lyricist. Recording sessions immerse the audience in his thrillingly creative process, allowing full access to his studio collaborations with guest artists including Nels Cline (Wilco), Sharon Van Etten, Alan Licht, Kid Millions (Oneida), and Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth).