Coming to VOD tomorrow, Tuesday, April 18:
THE BABUSHKAS OF CHERNOBYL
Director:
Holly Morris
Premiere:
Los Angeles 2015
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Sidewalk, Woodstock, Sun Valley, One World, DC’s Environmental, Florida, San Francisco Green, DOXA, Documenta Madrid
About:
A profile of elderly women who subsist on their beloved but toxic land in Chernobyl’s radioactive exclusion zone.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD this upcoming Tuesday, April 18:
RUBY RIDGE
Director:
Barak Goodman
Premiere:
American Experience (February 2017)
About:
The story of a tragic standoff between US marshals and a separatist family.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens this coming Monday, April 17:
SEED: THE UNTOLD STORY
Directors:
Taggart Siegel and Jon Betz
Premiere:
Washington DC’s Environmental Film Festival 2016
Select Festivals:
Nashville, Rhode Island, Princeton Environmental, Sheffield, Florida, DOXA, Woods Hole
About:
An overview of efforts to preserve seed diversity.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, April 14:
CHASING TRANE: THE JOHN COLTRANE DOCUMENTARY
Director:
John Scheinfeld
Premiere:
Telluride 2016
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Toronto, IDFA, Pan African
About:
An exploration of the life and music of the legendary jazz musician.
Though he only lived to 40 years of age, John Coltrane left an indelible mark in music, recognized as one of the most innovative and impactful jazz performers and composers of the 20th Century. Scheinfeld’s film pays tribute to his talent and vision, offering a biographical portrait brimming with music and atmosphere, and featuring the insights of a score of Coltrane fans, from his contemporaries to a new generation of musician, as well as admirers like Cornel West and Bill Clinton. While detailing the jazzman’s numerous achievements, Scheinfeld doesn’t shy away from the darker side of his biography, including Coltrane’s struggles with alcohol and heroin addiction, yet the focus always remains reverentially on its impact on his evocative, pioneering music.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, April 14:
FINDING OSCAR
Director:
Ryan Suffern
Premiere:
Telluride 2016
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Boulder, Mill Valley, Sedona, Sun Valley, United Nations Association, Austin
About:
Investigators seek justice for the victims of a state-sponsored Guatemalan massacre.
I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
During Guatemala’s 36-year-long civil war, an estimated 200,000 civilians were killed or disappeared. Among these were the 200 residents of the rural village of Dos Erres, who were massacred by an elite government commando unit in 1982. Two young boys survived to be raised, unwittingly, by the very soldiers who slaughtered their families. Suffern’s film follows the quest to finally find justice for the people of Dos Erres.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres and VOD this Friday, April 14:
MISSION CONTROL: THE UNSUNG HEROES OF APOLLO
Director:
David Fairhead
Premiere:
SXSW 2017
Select Festivals:
Sarasota
About:
Members of NASA’s Mission Control recount the triumphs and tragedies of the US space program through the end of the Apollo missions.
Fairhead’s love letter to the bygone years of American space exploration focuses on the engineers, project leaders, and technicians of Mission Control, figures who typically never received the spotlight despite their essential roles in the Space Race. His film combines extensive talking head interviews with these surviving men (the boy’s club environment is awkwardly mitigated by bookend interviews with two present-day female NASA employees), along with new animation and a wealth of archival footage, including extensive period footage of Mission Control, space missions, propaganda/educational films, and news broadcasts. Subjects relate their path to working for NASA, their trial-and-error invention, and the parts they played in the Space Race, including immersive retellings of such pivotal moments as the first three-man mission in space, the lunar landing, and the rescue of the Apollo 13 astronauts, making for an engaging, enjoyable, and respectful look back at NASA’s glory days.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
New to VOD this week:
MEN IN THE ARENA
Director:
JR Biersmith
Premiere:
Heartland 2016
Select Festivals:
St Louis, Mexico International
About:
A portrait of two Somali professional soccer players.
Against the backdrop of a civil war raging for decades, Somalia was further destabilized in the 2000s by the rise of radical groups like al-Shabaab, a terrorist organization linked to al-Qaeda which banned sports and the arts until they were pushed out of the capital, Mogadishu. Growing up in the shadow of conflict, young friends Saadiq and Sa’ad try to realize their soccer dreams and show a different side of Somalia to the world. Saadiq is a rising star playing in the Kenyan premiere league who receives the opportunity of a lifetime: a chance at an education in the US and recruitment by an American professional team. His friend Sa’ad, unfortunately, doesn’t fare as well, confined to Somalia as he struggles to make ends meet. Biersmith aims for the hopeful and inspirational, but the film struggles to find the proper balance between its two protagonists – Sa’ad’s story just doesn’t carry equivalent weight in comparison with Saadiq’s more compelling trajectory.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, April 11:
DAN AND MARGOT
Directors:
Chloe Sosa-Sims and Jake Chirico
Premiere:
Victoria 2016
Select Festivals:
Cinequest, mental health fests in Vancouver, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Toronto
About:
A young woman who has struggled with a stalker for years makes an unsettling discovery.
Several years ago, Margot found her life thrown into turmoil by Dan, a man who stalked and harassed her constantly. Eventually, however, she learned that Dan didn’t actually exist – he was instead a product of her undiagnosed schizophrenia. Sosa-Sims and Chirico follow Margot as she recounts her descent into depression and confusion while dealing with Dan’s presence for three years, and her attempts to recover a semblance of control in her life while still acknowledging the difficulties posed by her schizophrenia. While in need of some tightening up, the film benefits from its appealing subject, who doubles as an unreliable narrator, and offers welcome first-hand insight into the experiences of mental illness.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, April 11:
THE AGE OF CONSEQUENCES
Director:
Jared P Scott
Premiere:
Hot Docs 2016
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Sheffield, Telluride Mountainfilm, Antenna Doc, Waimea Ocean Festival, Wild & Scenic
About:
Global unrest viewed through the lens of climate change.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to VOD tomorrow, Tuesday, April 11:
GAZA SURF CLUB
Directors:
Philip Gnadt and Mickey Yamine
Premiere:
Toronto 2016
Select Festivals:
IDFA, MoMA Doc Fortnight, Dubai, Washington DC Environmental, Movies That Matter
About:
A portrait of Gaza City residents who find a small taste of freedom through surfing.
Gnadt and Yamine profile several individuals who are part of the small surf culture of the beleaguered city, including the 42-year-old Mohammad, a fisherman who provides a sense of surfing’s ragtag local development after it was witnessed on television, as well as 15-year-old student Sabah, who has been forced to stop the sport on religious grounds because of her gender. Neither subject’s thread is particularly well-developed, leaving the bulk of this smaller film instead to Ibrahim, a 23-year-old jack of multiple trades whose quest to grow surfing in the area leads him to seek help from Matthew, an American who he hopes will help him get a visa towards the eventual goal of importing surfboards and other equipment.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
what (not) to doc 