Festival:
The 41st Cinéma du Reél
Dates:
March 15-24
About:
Nearly 50 new documentary features make up the lineup of this Paris fest, alongside many more retrospective offerings. Continue reading
Category Archives: Documentary
Cinéma du Reél 2019 Overview
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
In Theatres: THE EYES OF ORSON WELLES
Coming to theatres this Friday, March 15:
THE EYES OF ORSON WELLES
Director:
Mark Cousins
Premiere:
Cannes 2018
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Karlovy Vary, Antenna Doc, Haifa, Taipei Golden Horse, Morelia, Dokufest, Melbourne, Biografilm
About:
A new perspective on the creativity of iconic filmmaker Orson Welles.
The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Esteemed film historian Mark Cousins (THE STORY OF FILM) takes a novel approach to Orson Welles by studying the legendary filmmaker’s paintings, drawings, and doodles. Granted exclusive access to Welles’ private artwork, Cousins presents an unorthodox portrait, and one informed by the documentarian’s signature personal essayistic approach. Critic Todd McCarthy writes, “Freshly conceived, mordantly whimsical, light on its feet and fleet of mind, THE EYES OF ORSON WELLES rightly makes no extensive claims for Welles’ drawing and painting skills, but positions them honestly as one heretofore overlooked aspect of the man’s polymorphously abundant talent.”
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
On VOD: TRUST MACHINE: THE STORY OF BLOCKCHAIN
Coming to VOD this Friday, March 15:
TRUST MACHINE: THE STORY OF BLOCKCHAIN
Director:
Alex Winter
Premiere:
NYC theatrical (October 2018)
Select Festivals:
Tallinn Black Nights
About:
An exploration of the technology behind not only cryptocurrency, but decentralization of information as a whole.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Special Screening: THE INVENTOR: OUT FOR BLOOD IN SILICON VALLEY
THE INVENTOR: OUT FOR BLOOD IN SILICON VALLEY | Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Drew Kelly
THE INVENTOR: OUT FOR BLOOD IN SILICON VALLEY
Director:
Alex Gibney
Premiere:
Sundance 2019
Select Festivals:
SXSW
About:
An investigation into the high-profile rise and fall of discredited health tech company Theranos.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
On DVD: DIVIDE AND CONQUER: THE STORY OF ROGER AILES
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, March 12:
DIVIDE AND CONQUER: THE STORY OF ROGER AILES
Director:
Alexis Bloom
Premiere:
Toronto 2018
Select Festivals:
New York, Hamptons, AFI Fest, Philadelphia, Indie Memphis, Virginia
About:
The rise and fall of the master manipulator behind Fox News.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
On DVD: OVER THE LIMIT
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, March 12:
OVER THE LIMIT
Director:
Marta Prus
Premiere:
IDFA 2017
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Moscow Doc, Visions du Reél, DOK.fest Munich, DocsBarcelona, Zagreb Dox, Krakow, Docpoint, Göteborg, Thessaloniki Doc, One World, Ambulante
About:
A brutally candid look at a rhythmic gymnast’s Olympic training.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
On DVD: CHEF FLYNN
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, March 12:
CHEF FLYNN
Director:
Cameron Yates
Premiere:
Sundance 2018
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Berlin, Hot Docs, CPH:DOX, SXSW, San Francisco, Cleveland, BAFICI, Docaviv, Sydney, Nashville, Traverse City, DMZ Docs, Film Columbia
About:
A compelling coming of age portrait of a talented young chef.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
In Theatres: ISLAND OF THE HUNGRY GHOSTS
Coming to theatres today, Friday, March 8:
ISLAND OF THE HUNGRY GHOSTS
Director:
Gabrielle Brady
Premiere:
Visions du Reel 2018
Select Festivals:
Tribeca, Docaviv, Edinburgh, Guanajuato, New Zealand, Melbourne, Dokufest, Camden, Reykjavik, Adelaide, Athens, Goteborg, DocPoint, ZagrebDox, RIDM, DOK Leipzig, New Zealand, Tallin Black Nights, Docs Against Gravity
About:
An impressionistic portrait of migration and limbo on Australia’s Christmas Island.
Christmas Island is a remote Australian territory in the Indian Ocean, and, as legend has it, is haunted by the titular spirits of the Chinese laborers who were brought there over a century ago to work its phosphate mines. But in Brady’s metaphor-heavy meditation, other, living ghosts now find themselves trapped on the island: asylum seekers. Unlike Christmas Island’s cast of red crabs making their dangerous migratory journey to the ocean, helped to safely cross roadways by conscientious residents, these human migrants are instead confined to a detention center for indefinite periods of time. Help comes in the form of trauma counselor Poh Lin Lee, whose sessions with her detainee are threaded through this project, but Lee herself is growing more and more demoralized by the limbo her patients are forced to endure. Brady doesn’t always successfully integrate the various threads here, preferencing atmosphere and immersion over clarity and engagement at times, but she nevertheless has crafted a thoughtful look at the ongoing crisis of migration in a distinctive way.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
On VOD: 306 HOLLYWOOD
New to VOD this week:
306 HOLLYWOOD
Directors:
Elan Bogarín and Jonathan Bogarín
Premiere:
Sundance 2018
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Hot Docs, Full Frame, Cleveland, Sarasota, Montclair, Aspen Ideas, Atlanta, Berkshire, Woods Hole, San Francisco Jewish
About:
A magical realist archaeological exploration of the filmmakers’ late grandmother’s home and possessions.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
On TV: ¡LAS SANDINISTAS!
Coming to PBS’s Doc World this Sunday, March 10:
¡LAS SANDINISTAS!
Director:
Jenny Murray
Premiere:
SXSW 2018
Select Festivals:
Lima, Southern Circuit, Maryland
About:
The female leaders of the 1979 Nicaraguan revolution look back at their unsung accomplishments.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
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