Category Archives: Documentary

Coming back to American Experience for an encore tonight, Tuesday, January 30:
TRIANGLE FIRE

Director:
Jamila Wignot

Premiere:
American Experience (February 2011)

About:
A chronicle of the 1911 factory fire that led to widespread reforms for factory safety.

On March 25, 1911, a fire claimed the lives of 146 garment workers – mostly women and girls – at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in NYC ‘s Greenwich Village, many jumping to their deaths, unable to escape the sweatshop building because the owners had had the doors locked to prevent theft and unauthorized breaks. Wignot’s straightforward film counts down to the tragedy, recounting the controversial growth of labor union power among garment workers and the reactionary responses of factory owners; a sense of the gap between the haves and have-nots of the time; brief profiles of some of the factory workers, many immigrants; the background of owners Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, immigrant success stories who managed to escape criminal charges in the end; and a quick rundown of the reforms and regulations introduced following the tragedy. Utilizing talking head experts, minor re-enacted sequences on the factory floor, archival sources, and recitations of the experiences of survivors, the film hews close to the PBS program’s typically more informative than artistic approach.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, January 30:
BUGS

Director:
Andreas Johnsen

Premiere:
Tribeca 2016

Select Festivals:
Edinburgh, Seattle, Docaviv, Docs Against Gravity, Melbourne, Reykjavik, Denver, Vlnius

About:
A global insect-eating expedition seeks new sources of food for the world.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to HBO tonight, Monday, January 29:
MAY IT LAST: A PORTRAIT OF THE AVETT BROTHERS

Directors:
Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio

Premiere:
SXSW 2017

Select Festivals:
Full Frame, Nashville, IDFA

About:
A behind-the-scenes look at the folk rock band as they record their latest album.

Longtime fans of the NC band, directors Apatow and Bonfiglio offer a loving tribute, focusing on the sibling pair at its heart, elder brother Scott and younger brother Seth. Hewing fairly close to music docs of its ilk, the film reviews the band’s origins, presents numerous performances, and provides fans a look at their creative process in the studio with acclaimed producer Rick Rubin to record “True Sadness,” which went on to be nominated for two Grammy Awards. Along the way, Apatow and Bonfiglio establish and re-establish that Scott and Seth are remarkably close and that everyone in the band gets along, briefly profiling other bandmates and family members. While offering some pathos in the consideration of the real-life inspiration of Seth’s new song about divorce, the film largely feels fairly surface, playing primarily to its fanbase and never really transcending its celebratory feel to dig much deeper.

Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens tonight, Monday, January 29:
I AM ANOTHER YOU

Director:
Nanfu Wang

Premiere:
SXSW 2017

Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, BAMcinemaFest, Ashland, Cleveland

About:
What begins as a portrait of a seemingly carefree young drifter becomes something more complex.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to DVD next Tuesday, January 23:
NASSER’S REPUBLIC: THE MAKING OF MODERN EGYPT

Director:
Michal Goldman

Premiere:
Washington DC International Film Festival 2016

Select Festivals:
IFF Boston, Cairo, Pan-African, Luxor African, African Disaspora

About:
A profile of Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Nasser quickly rose to power in Egypt as one of the leaders of the 1952 revolution, a military coup to abolish the monarchy and end the British occupation. Following its success, and a later face-off with the Muslim Brotherhood, the charismatic Nasser became Egypt’s president and continued widespread reforms, including the nationalization of the Suez Canal and the formation of a nascent pan-Arab nation. As Goldman points out in her educational but workmanlike film, however, is that while Nasser brought many positive contributions to Egypt – and tried to accomplish much more that might very well have helped to stabilize the Middle East – he unfortunately failed to institute a true democracy. As a result, while hailed as Egypt’s great liberator, he also became the nation’s dictator until his death in 1970, setting the course for subsequent decades of authoritarian rule. In many ways, however, the Egypt that Nasser set out to transform shared much in common with today’s post-Arab Spring one, a country seeking to move beyond Mubarak and build a new, modern nation, making Goldman’s project timely for its historical contextualization and analysis.