Coming to the World Channel’s America ReFramed next Tuesday, March 28:
ENTER THE FAUN
Directors:
Tamar Rogoff and Daisy Wright
Premiere:
Sarasota 2015
Select Festivals:
Film Columbia, Margaret Mead, Dance on Camera, Salem, ReelAbilities
About:
A collaboration between a choreographer and a performer with cerebral palsy yields unexpected results.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens next Monday, March 27:
OVARIAN PSYCOS
Directors:
Joanna Sokolowski and Kate Trumbull-LaValle
Premiere:
SXSW 2016
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, New Orleans, Seattle, London, Human Rights Watch, Denver, Frameline, Outfest, Milan, Citizen Jane, Ambulante
About:
A profile of several young Latinas who find empowerment as members of an East Los Angeles bicycling group.
Seeking a sense of community and a safe space for women of color within the white male-dominated, privileged bicycling culture of Los Angeles, the Ovarian Psycos were formed. Eschewing the criminal intimations of the term “gang” for the preferred “brigade,” the Ovas defiantly reclaim the streets for their own, organizing rides like Clitoral Mass, while fighting back against sexism, racism, classism, gender violence, and cultural taboos – though the film doesn’t always provide a clear sense of the extent of the group’s reach. Sokolowski and Trumbull-LaValle instead focus on a small handful of riders, including founder Xela de la X, longtime member Andi Xoch, and newcomer Evie, demonstrating how their personal stories reflect larger, political issues, such as the challenges posed by the pull of family, motherhood, and traditionally so-called “feminine” pursuits vs their activist interests. While suggesting the Psycos are the latest in a lineage that stretches back from the riot grrls of the 1990s and the Chicano and feminist movements of the ’60s and ’70s, the film doesn’t go quite far enough in exploring these ties, resulting in a somewhat insular, if still intriguing, treatment.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
The 39th edition of Cinéma du Réel, the documentary festival of Paris, begins tomorrow, Friday, March 24 and runs through Sunday, April 2. The event will showcase approximately 50 new and recent documentary features, along with shorts, panels, and retrospectives. Feature highlights follow: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to theatres and to VOD this Friday, March 24:
AMERICAN ANARCHIST
Director:
Charlie Siskel
Premiere:
Venice 2016
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Hamptons, Chicago, Vienna, Stockholm, Thessaloniki Doc, Vilnius, Cleveland
About:
The author of a notorious book is forced to reckon with its destructive impact.
In 1970, William Powell, a 19-year-old disaffected anti-establishment activist, compiled recipes for explosives culled from US Army manuals found in the New York Public Library, and combined them with a radical manifesto calling for the overthrow of the government. The result: The Anarchist Cookbook. Finding a publisher all-too-happy to capitalize on the social unrest of the period, Powell’s screed generated outrage and has stayed in print over the decades, selling over 2 million copies worldwide. As Siskel all-too-frequently is ready to remind the now 65-year-old Powell, it also has been linked to a long list of heinous crimes, from Columbine and Aurora to abortion clinic bombings and Oklahoma City. Tracking down the author, who long ago denounced his tome as misguided and who has spent the intervening decade as an educator focused on special needs students, the director challenges him to face the deadly consequences of his infamous work, which, despite any efforts to contain its dangerous reach, seems destined to live on in perpetuity in the age of the Internet.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres this Friday, March 24:
I CALLED HIM MORGAN
Director:
Kasper Collin
Premiere:
Venice 2016
Select Festivals:
Toronto, Telluride, New York, London, Vancouver, Mumbai, Philadelphia, In-Edit, Stockholm, Palm Springs, Thessaloniki Doc, Tempo Doc, CPH:DOX
About:
The story of the ultimately ill-fated relationship between jazz musician Lee Morgan and his common-law wife Helen.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, March 21:
ART BASTARD
Director:
Victor Kanefsky
Premiere:
Orlando 2015
Select Festivals:
Newport Beach, Manchester, Santa Fe, Julien Dubuque
About:
A portrait of a frustrated, underappreciated artist who considers himself the Anti-Warhol.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, March 21:
TOWER
Director:
Keith Maitland
Premiere:
SXSW 2016
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Seattle, Karlovy Vary, Jerusalem, Melbourne, Fantasia, the Hamptons, BFI London, Sitges, Mill Valley
Notable Recognition:
The doc was shortlisted for the Academy Awards.
About:
An animated re-telling of a sniper’s attack on school campus in 1966.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, March 21:
FIRE AT SEA
Director:
Gianfranco Rosi
Premiere:
Berlin 2016
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Toronto, Telluride, New York, DocAviv, Sydney, Melbourne, It’s All True, Moscow, Karlovy Vary, New Zealand, Reykjavik
Notable Recognition:
The doc was nominated for the Academy Awards.
About:
An intimate portrait of Lampedusa, an island at the heart of Europe’s migration crisis.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to Independent Lens this coming Monday, March 20:
THE BAD KIDS
Directors:
Keith Fulton and Lou Pepe
Premiere:
Sundance 2016
Select Festivals:
True/False, Cleveland, Full Frame, Dallas, Visions du Réel, Hot Docs, DocAviv, and Atlantic
About:
A coming-of-age story set in a high school for at-risk students.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to VOD today, Friday, March 17:
UNCERTAIN
Directors:
Ewan McNicol and Anna Sandilands
Premiere:
Tribeca 2015
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, CPH:DOX, Seattle, AFI Docs, Tempo Doc
About:
A Southern Gothic study of three residents of a small Texan town.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
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