Coming to theatres this Friday, October 7: NEWTOWN
Kim A Snyder’s look at the aftermath of an unthinkable tragedy debuted at Sundance at the start of the year. Screenings followed at Nantucket, SXSW, Full Frame, AFI Docs, Cleveland, Camden, Melbourne, BAMCinemaFest, and Bentonville, among others.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
The 60th BFI London Film Festival launches tomorrow, Wednesday, October 5, and runs through Sunday, October 16. The event offers audiences nearly 250 new and retrospective features, among them ore than 50 documentaries and hybrids. While many have been covered here previously, the following offers a selective spotlight: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to DVD and VOD today, Tuesday, October 4: HOT TYPE: 150 YEARS OF THE NATION
Barbara Kopple’s look at the history and influence of the prominent magazine debuted at MoMA’s Documentary Fortnight last year. It has since screened at nantucket, Sarasota, IFF Boston, AFI Docs, and Montclair, among other fests.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, October 4: THE HOMESTRETCH
Anne de Mare and Kirsten Kelly’s portrait of homeless teens premiered at Hot Docs in 2014. Its fest circuit also included AFI Docs, Citizen Jane, Indie Memphis, Human Rights Watch, and Hot Springs, among other events.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to PBS’s America ReFramed tomorrow, Tuesday, October 4: WE LIKE IT LIKE THAT
Mathew Ramirez Warren’s tribute to Latin boogaloo debuted at SXSW last year. It also screened at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Sound + Vision, Ambulante California, Urbanworld, San Diego Latino, and In-Edit Spain and Chile.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to PBS tonight, Monday, October 3: WILLIE VELASQUEZ: YOUR VOTE IS YOUR VOICE
Hector Galan’s profile of a community organizer has been shown at community screenings around the country and makes its debut on PBS stations this week.
Timed as a reminder of the considerable voting power of Latino/as in America, Galan introduces audiences to a largely unsung champion of voting rights, Mexican-American activist Willie Velasquez. Velasquez, realizing the only way for Latinos to gain any kind of advancement was through participating in the political process, founded Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project, a grassroots, nonpartisan nonprofit that registered Latinos in 200 cities across several states, using the slogan “su voto es su voz,” which doubles as the film’s subtitle. He became the go-to contact for politicians on both sides of the aisle to seek an audience with Latino voters as both Republicans, and, more slowly, Democrats, realized their growing importance. While the film is conventionally constructed with an excess of narration, talking heads, and unnecessary re-enactments, Velasquez’s story offers historical and political interest.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to Independent Lens tonight Monday, October 3: BEST OF ENEMIES
Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon’s review of the contentious Buckley/Vidal debates debuted at Sundance last year. Screenings followed at DOC NYC, Nantucket, BAMcinemaFest, AFI Docs, Outfest, San Francisco, SXSW, Hot Docs, Full Frame, Srasota, Miami, and IFF Boston, among others.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to HBO tonight, Monday, October 3: CLASS DIVIDE
Marc Levin’s look at gentrification through the lens of a school premiered at the Hamptons last year. Screenings followed at DOC NYC and at Havana’s International Festival of New Latin American Cinema.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
New to VOD this week: PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELL
Gini Reticker’s look at the women-led peace movement in Liberia debuted at Tribeca in 2008, where it won the Best Documentary award. Screenings followed at IDFA, São Paulo, Silverdocs, Traverse City, Jackson Hole, Heartland, Palm Springs, St Louis, and One World. The doc was just released on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, and Vudu.
After a civil war which saw dictator Charles Taylor rise to power, LIberia became embroiled in a second civil war pitting warlords against the despot. In the middle, citizens suffered, with more than a million LIberians killed or displaced by the conflict. Reticker focuses on the unlikely but remarkably effective actions of a group of Christian women who grew a church prayer for peace into an activist movement that inspired a parallel Muslim conclave. With religion a factor in the civil war, between a supposedly devout Christian Taylor and predominantly Muslim rebels, the women’s unity across religious lines helped their cause for peace. Using whatever tactics they could come up with – including withholding sex and shaming men by threatening to strip naked in front of them – the activists forced participation in peace negotiations, and, ultimately, worked together to witness the election of the first female head of state in Africa, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. While no-frills in its approach, the film succeeds by virtue of its compelling subjects and their dogged determination for peace.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres and to Netflix today, Friday, September 30: AMANDA KNOX
Rod Blackhurst and Brian McGinn’s re-examination of a sensationalized murder case made its debut at Toronto earlier this month. It now opens theatrically and exclusively on Netflix, and has just been announced as part of DOC NYC’s Short List.
The 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, a British exchange student living in Perugia, Italy, set off a worldwide media frenzy that made Amanda Knox, her unassuming roommate, infamous. Pegged as the primary suspects, Knox and her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were painted in the mainstream media as sexually depraved psychopaths, and eventually convicted twice by Italian courts before finally being acquitted. In their absorbing, well-constructed revisitation of Knox’s story, Blackhurst and McGinn gain the cooperation not only of Knox and Sollecito, but also, pivotally, Italian prosecutor Giuliano Mignini and Daily Mail tabloid journalist Nick Pisa, whose unfounded, salacious theories pathologizing and demonizing female sexual experimentation set in motion what followed. This inside perspective should prove illuminating – and disturbing – both for those who followed the case through the media’s wild speculation and for viewers who have no previously familiarity with Knox.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
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