Category Archives: Documentary

In Theatres: UNCERTAIN

uncertain_stillComing to theatres today, Thursday, March 9:
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.

Named after the Texas/Louisiana bordertown, population 94, McNicol and Sandilands focus their attention on three distinct stories centered on three men at different ages, all in some way haunted by past or present concerns: 74-year-old Henry, a recently widowed fisherman and tour guide; middle-aged Wayne, a former addict with a prison background, currently on a quest to kill his sworn enemy, a wild boar named Mr Ed; and 21-year-old Zach, a diabetic heavy drinker who recently had his troubled mother committed. Their stories slowly play out against a shared background portending a greater existential threat – an aquatic weed is wreaking havoc with the fragile ecosystem of the community’s lake, potentially destroying the town’s only real source of livelihood. Capturing their setting with evocative lensing and an unhurried pace, the filmmakers deftly craft a humanistic, and surprisingly hopeful, portrait.

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On VOD: BURLESQUE: HEART OF THE GLITTER TRIBE

burlesqueNew to VOD this week:
BURLESQUE: HEART OF THE GLITTER TRIBE

Director:
Jon Manning

Premiere:
limited theatrical engagements (February 2017)

About:
A survey of the neo-burlesque scene in Portland OR.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

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On VOD: THE SWIRL

New on VOD via Google Play and VUDU this week:
THE SWIRL (EL REMOLINO)

Director:
Laura Herrero Garvín

Premiere:
Ambulante 2016

Select Festivals:
Locarno, Camden, Washington DC Environmental, DocsMX, Oaxaca, Morelia

About:
A trans farmer and her sister navigate life in an oft-flooded Chiapas village.

The small community of El Remolino – literally translated as “the swirl” – annually faces extreme flooding, located as it is along a raging river in Chiapas, Mexico. Trying to maintain their precarious existence here are Esther, a mother who documents her life via camcorder, and Pedro, her openly MTF transgender sister, a farmer. Garvín’s observational slice-of-life portrait is well made, presenting her subjects as fleshed out individuals while also taking on larger social issues that have an ongoing impact on their lives, from climate change to gender and sexuality.

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SXSW 2017: Documentary Overview

sxsw-filmThis Friday, March 10 sees the opening of this year’s edition of SXSW, Austin TX’s popular film/interactive/music event. The film festival component, which runs through Saturday, March 18, offers approx 125 features, including new and retrospective work. Among these are more than 50 documentary features, appearing in the event’s various sections, with highlights noted below: Continue reading →

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On DVD: NOTFILM

notfilm-image-beckettNew to DVD this week:
NOTFILM

Director:
Ross Lipman

Premiere:
BFI London 2015

Select Festivals:
CPH:DOX, Rotterdam, Hong Kong, Dublin, the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Film Comment Selects series, BAFICI.

About:
The story behind Samuel Beckett’s only film project, FILM.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

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On DVD: OKLAHOMA CITY

oklahoma cityComing to DVD today, Tuesday, March 7:
OKLAHOMA CITY

Director:
Barak Goodman

Premiere:
Sundance 2017

About:
A look back at the events which led to the 1995 terrorist bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building.

My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.

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On VOD: WE ARE X

we are xComing to VOD today, Tuesday, March 7:
WE ARE X

Director:
Stephen Kijak

Premiere:
Sundance 2016

Select Festivals:
SXSW, Vancouver, Seattle, BFI London, Shanghai, Guanajuato, IDFA

About:
A profile of Japanese super band X Japan and its charismatic frontman, Yoshiki X.

My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.

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On DVD/VOD: THE C WORD

THECWORD-KEY-01Coming to DVD and VOD today, Tuesday, March 7:
THE C WORD

Director:
Meghan O’Hara

Premiere:
Hamptons 2015

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Cleveland, Martha’s Vineyard, Napa Valley, Traverse City, Newport

About:
A personal battle with cancer prompts a reconsideration of the way Western society approaches the disease.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

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Special Screening: I CALLED HIM MORGAN

i called him morganComing to NYC’s Stranger Than Fiction series tomorrow, Tuesday, March 7:
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.

Recognized as a legend among jazz cognoscenti, Morgan’s early death cost him more widespread popular recognition. Collin’s film aims to pay the trumpeter his due, laying out his history and accomplishments, including touring with Dizzy Gillespie and Art Blakey, while also exploring the darker side of the life of a performer – in this case a long struggle with cocaine addiction that nearly cost him his career. What allows this portrait to transcend the conventional beats of the musician bio doc, however, is in Collin’s focus on Morgan’s relationship with Helen, represented here in an interview recorded in 1996, a month before her death. Aided by a thoughtful, atmospheric production design, and, of course, Morgan’s music, what emerges is an engrossing, intriguing tale that transports the viewer back to Morgan and Ruth’s milieu of New York City jazz clubs in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Even as Ruth’s support enabled Morgan to beat his addiction and make a successful comeback, she ultimately took his life, shooting the 33-year-old while he was performing at an East Village jazz club in February 1972.

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One World 2017 Overview

oneworld_posThe 19th edition of Prague’s One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival kicks off today, Monday, March 6 and runs through Wednesday, March 15. Over 100 new and recent documentary features will screen at the event, with some highlights noted below:

humanityAmong the titles in the Czech Competition are: Zuzana Piussi’s CZECH ALLAH, on Czech society’s response to Islam and the migrant crisis; Tomáš Kudrna’s IDA’S IDEA, about a woman’s Roma children’s choir; and Eva Tomanová’s I WON’T SELL MY SOUL, which explores the controversy of child surrogacy in the Czech Republic. Meanwhile, the International Competition includes such films as: Alexandre Dereims’ WE ARE HUMANITY (pictured), about the struggles of the indigenous people of a remote Indian Ocean island; Petr Lom’s BURMA STORYBOOK, on a Burmese dissident poet; and Marc Silver’s TO END A WAR, a candid look at the hardfought Colombian peace process. And the Right to Know competition features work like: Mina Keshavarz’s BRAVING THE WAVES, about an entrepreneurial Iranian woman as she faces off against local authorities; Roser Corella’s GRAB AND RUN, which explores the Kyrgyz custom of bride kidnapping; and Elina Hirvonen’s BOILING POINT, on the rise of fascistic nationalists in modern Finland.

thecoloursfilmThe festival’s many noncompetitive strands explore the migrant crisis in Dreams of Europe, with films like Pia Lenz’s I’M OKAY, which looks at two foreign youth trying to adjust to life in Germany; normalcy and difference in Who is Normal Here?, in docs including Maria Teresa Larraín’s SHADOW GIRL, following the filmmaker back to her native Chile as she loses her eyesight; the role of family, in Family Happiness, through Jasna Krajinovic’s THE EMPTY ROOM, about the family of a radicalized Belgian Muslim; society and environment, in So-Called Civilzation, with films like Fredrik Oskarsson’s NUCLEAR NEIGHBOUR, which follows a young mother’s transformation into an anti-nuclear power activist; urban space, in Faces of the City, through Anders Eklund’s GAMING THE REAL WORLD, which explores a Swedish city’s use of Minecraft to encourage participatory urban planning; media in the Power of the Media; with Hans Busstra’s CYBERJIHAD, exploring virtual world techniques used by terrorist groups; and social upheaval in Journeys to Freedom, including Alistair Cole’s COLOURS OF THE ALPHABET, which looks at the problems resulting from schooling not being done in students’ native language.

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