Coming to theatres today, Friday, October 6:
BENDING THE ARC
Directors:
Kief Davidson and Pedro Kos
Premiere:
Sundance 2017
Select Festivals:
Sheffield, San Francisco, Telluride Mountainfilm, Montclair, Miami, Berkshire, Greenwich
About:
Three health care advocates develop a groundbreaking, lifesaving community health model.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
New to VOD this week:
BLURRED LINES: INSIDE THE ART WORLD
Director:
Barry Avrich
Premiere:
Tribeca 2017
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, DocuWest
About:
A consideration of the art market and its continually increasing prices.
Using as a starting point the inflation of prices for an auction of new works by Damien Hirst in 2008 while the world financial markets dovetailed into the worst crisis since the Great Depression, the film launches into a broad exploration of the modern art market and its various players. Surveying artists, auction houses, critics, reporters, gallerists, museum directors, art fair regulars, and collectors, the film seeks to understand the complicated landscape and what the increasing commerce of modern art has done to the culture of modern art. While the topic is compelling, the execution is conventional, taking a talking heads-heavy survey approach that often becomes repetitious and gives the project a television feel.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to VOD tomorrow, Friday, October 6:
AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL
Directors:
Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk
Premiere:
Sundance 2017
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Cannes, AFI Docs, Biografilm
About:
The follow-up to the Academy Award-winning AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to theatres and to Netflix tomorrow, Friday, October 6:
THE DEATH AND LIFE OF MARSHA P JOHNSON
Director:
David France
Premiere:
Tribeca 2017
Select Festivals:
Sheffield, Traverse City, Melbourne, Seattle, Montclair, Frameline, Outfest, Provincetown, Inside Out, LGBT fests in Portland, Halifax, Barcelona, Seoul, Dublin, Glasgow, Vancouver, Honolulu, Austin, Oslo, Sydney, Chicago
About:
A tribute to a pioneering African American transgender activist, who died in 1992 under mysterious circumstances.
Marsha P Johnson – the P stood for “Pay no mind,” according to the outspoken figure – was a veteran of Stonewall and a familiar presence in Greenwich Village for decades before her body was found in the Hudson River near the Christopher St piers. Traditionally dismissive if not outright hostile to the city’s queer population, particularly trans people, the police hastily deemed Johnson a suicide and declined to investigate further. Decades later, Victoria Cruz, an activist with the Anti-Violence Project, decides to explore the case on her own, seeking justice long deferred for this under-acknowledged community leader. As Cruz speaks to Johnson’s old friends, her story is but one of several that emerge in this sensitively crafted film that speak to a history of inequity and violence being visited upon trans people, especially trans people of color, including the legendary Sylvia Rivera, as well as Islan Nettles, who was murdered in 2016.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Festival:
The 25th Hamptons International Film Festival
Dates:
October 5-9
About:
Almost half of the tony Long Island event’s lineup of more than 60 features is represented by nonfiction. Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
New to VOD this week:
MIMI AND DONA
Director:
Sophie Sartain
Premiere:
Dallas Videofest 2014
Select Festivals:
Thin Line, Sebastopol Doc, ReelAbilities
About:
A nonagenarian mother and her intellectually-disabled daughter deal with a major transition.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to theatres this Friday, October 6:
DINA
Directors:
Antonio Santini and Dan Sickles
Premiere:
Sundance 2017
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Nantucket, True/False, Full Frame, SF Jewish, Seattle, Sheffield, Sun Valley, Sarasota
About:
A profile an unforgettable woman as she seeks to realize her desires.
My pre-Sundance look at the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to theatres today, Wednesday, October 4:
CHAVELA
Directors:
Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi
Premiere:
Berlin 2017
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Hot Docs, Sheffield, AFI Docs, Provincetown, Guadalajara, Malaga, Ambulante, BAFICI, Montclair, Seattle, Krakow, Transylvania, Sydney, Galway, Frameline, Outfest, Inside Out, LGBT fests in Milan, Barcelona, Austin, Palm Springs, Chicago
About:
A portrait of an iconic Latin American singer.
I previously wrote about the doc for Nantucket’s program, saying:
Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi pay loving tribute to Chavela Vargas, a figure legendary throughout Latin America for her breathtaking romantic songs, who found more widespread fame by being showcased in the films of Pedro Almodóvar. Adopting masculine attire and performing songs typically reserved for men, she was an iconoclast in a traditionally macho culture, both on stage and off – as evidenced by her passionate love affairs with women like Frida Kahlo and Ava Gardner.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
New to DVD this week:
MR GAGA
Director:
Tomer Heymann
Premiere:
Jerusalem 2015
Select Festivals:
IDFA, Hot Docs, SXSW, London, New Orleans, Vilnius, Full Frame, DOK Fest Munich, DOXA, Transilvania, Seattle, Tel Aviv, Sheffield, Shanghai, SF Jewish, Miami Jewish, New Zealand, Bergen, Sao Paulo, RIDM
About:
A portrait of acclaimed Israeli dancer/choreographer Ohad Naharin.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
New to VOD this week:
ESCAPES
Director:
Michael Almereyda
Premiere:
BAMcinemaFest 2016
Select Festivals:
Rotterdam, San Francisco (both as WIP)
About:
An unconventional biography of occasional actor and BLADE RUNNER screenwriter Hampton Fancher.
I previously wrote about the doc
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
what (not) to doc 