Category Archives: Documentary

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, August 16: BOLSHOI BABYLON

Director Nick Read and co-director Mark Franchetti’s exploration of dramatic turmoil behind the legendary ballet company made its bow at Toronto last year. Screenings followed at DOC NYC, Hamptons, CPH:DOX, IDFA, New Zealand, Docville, Stockholm, Hong Kong, and Munich, among other fests.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, August 16: OUR LAST TANGO

German Kral’s tale of passion and drama between legendary dancers debuted at Toronto last year. It also screened at Miami, Cleveland, Stockholm, San Diego Latino, Sarasota, the Film Society’s Dance on Film, and Minneapolis/St Paul, among other events.

I previously wrote about the film here.

Coming to Investigation Discovery this Sunday, August 14: DREAM/KILLER

Andrew Jenks’ look at a bizarre murder conviction debuted at Tribeca last year. The film went on to screen at Montclair, Sidewalk, Kansas, Hot Springs Doc, Heartland, Hamptons, and CPH:DOX, among other events.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to theatres today, Friday, August 12: ABORTION: STORIES WOMEN TELL

Tracy Droz Tragos’ intimate exploration of women’s feelings on a divisive issue had its world premiere at Tribeca earlier this year. It also screened at AFI Docs, San Francisco DocFest, and the San Francisco Jewish film festivals.

As denoted by its subtitle, Tragos’ film is focused primarily on personal stories, even as it addresses the inescapable political and religious sentiments that accompany any consideration of the reproductive rights debate. Grounding her project in Missouri, due to that state’s restrictive laws, the filmmaker follows women who must make a long journey across the border to seek help in Illinois, while also profiling those who work in reproductive health, and, notably, others who have made it their mission to do away with abortion rights altogether. What emerges is a deeply compassionate multiperspectival portrait of the impact of abortion on these individuals lives, from a clinic’s non-nonsense security officer contending with daily irritation from pro-life protestors to a financial-strapped working mother in the process of ending her third pregnancy. Anti-abortion activists are offered respectful space to air their convictions, but their purely religiously-motivated arguments are unlikely to sway their opponents, who are instead influenced by a wider range of factors, systemic inequities encompassing class, race, education, and, most significantly, gender.

Coming to DVD and VOD this coming Tuesday, August 16: ALMOST HOLY

Steve Hoover’s look at a Ukrainian man with an unorthodox mission premiered at Tribeca last year. Screenings followed at IDFA, Hamptons, ZagrebDox, Tallinn Black Nights, Maryland, San Francisco DocFest, Sidewalk, Bergen, Portland, and One World, among other festivals.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, August 12: THE LOST ARCADE

Kurt Vincent’s love letter to a famed NYC institution made its debut at DOC NYC last year. Other berths have included Rotterdam, IFF Boston, Melbourne, and the upcoming Sidewalk festival.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
Chinatown Fair opened as a penny arcade on Mott Street in 1944. Over the decades, the dimly lit gathering place, known for its tic-tac-toe playing chicken, became an institution, surviving turf wars between rival gangs, changing tastes, and the explosive growth of home gaming systems like Xbox and Playstation that shuttered most other arcades in the city. But as the neighborhood gentrified, this haven for a diverse, unlikely community faced its strongest challenge, inspiring its biggest devotees to next-level greatness.

Coming to theatres today, Wednesday, August 10: AN ART THAT NATURE MAKES: THE WORK OF ROSAMOND PURCELL

Molly Bernstein’s portrait of a nature-focused photographer had its world premiere at DOC NYC last year. Other screenings have included Washington DC’s Environmental, Cleveland, and Maine, among other fests.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
Finding unexpected beauty in the overlooked, discarded, and decayed, photographer Rosamond Purcell has developed a body of work that has garnered international acclaim, fruitful collaborations with writers such as Stephen Jay Gould, and admirers like Errol Morris. Bernstein details Purcell’s fascination with the natural world – from a mastodon tooth to a hydrocephalic skull – offering insight into her unique way of recontextualizing objects both ordinary and strange into sometimes disturbing but always breathtaking visual studies.

Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, August 9: THE MILLION DOLLAR DUCK

Brian Golden Davis’ look at the annual Federal Duck Stamp Competition made its debut at Slamdance earlier this year, where it won both jury and audience awards. Further festival stops included Salem, Telluride Mountainfilm, San Francisco Doc, and Omaha, among other events.

Davis’ likeable film focuses on the unique contest, where artists vie for the chance for their work to be reproduced for the government’s wetland preservation program – the only juried arts competition run by the federal government. While there is no cash prize, past winners have scored lucrative licensing deals, lending the doc its take-notice title. After providing a brief history of the stamp, and how it developed into an art competition, Davis hews close to competition doc conventions, profiling several artists who are taking their shot, noting that in such a specialized contest with a relatively small pool of entrants, an individual’s chances of winning are more within reach. Subjects include newbies and past winners alike, including a former champion who represents one of three brothers who have dominated the competition in past years, a full-time artist hoping to provide for his young family, and even an outsider to the community who rankles its traditionalist members by using unconventional materials like sequins in his entries. Demonstrating their artistic process, Davis follows them from field research to execution, sometimes taking more than a year to fine tune there duck portraits, and onto the convivial two-day competition, as contenders react to their work being scored and sweat it out until the final results.