Category Archives: Documentary

Coming to the Discovery Channel tomorrow, Thursday, May 19: SONIC SEA

Michelle Dougherty and Daniel Hinerfeld’s exploration of the impact of noise on marine life debuted at Wild & Scenic at the beginning of the year. Other fests have included Big Sky, Washington DC’s Environmental, DocuWest, Provincetown, Princeton Environmental, and San Francisco Green, as well as a host of specialized screenings around the world. Discovery’s worldwide broadcast is part of its Discovery Impact series.

Dougherty and Hinerfeld’s midlength offers viewers an engaging, empathetic view of sealife and the invisible factors that are endangering it – namely, manmade noise. With sound-based communication pivotal to the well-being of dolphins, whales, and other marine life, the incursion of humans into this sonic landscape has been traumatic. Beyond increased traffic by noisy industrial vessels and the use of sonar, the film notes the growth of the practice of triggering underwater explosions to prospect for oil – all contributing to a cacophony below the surface that has led to tragic death and confusion. This well-made film makes for a solid call to action on an under-reported environmental issue, thought it begs for expansion to a full-length project.

New to DVD/VOD this week: THE WINDING STREAM

Beth Harrington’s exploration of the musical Carter and Cash families made its bow at SXSW in 2014. Its festival circuit also included Cleveland, Nashville, Atlanta, the Southern Circuit, Woods Hole, Sound + Vision, DokuFest, Hot Springs Doc, New Orleans’ filmOrama, Galway, and St Louis.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to DVD and VOD today, Tuesday, May 17: TROUBLEMAKERS: THE STORY OF LAND ART

James Crump’s chronicle of the expansion of art out of the gallery premiered at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art last Fall. Screenings followed at DOC NYC, New York Film Festival, St Louis, Milan’s Fondazione Prada, and Art Basel Miami, among others.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens tonight, Monday, May 16: DOGTOWN REDEMPTION

Amir Soltani and Chihiro Wimbush’s look at the intersection of recycling and homelessness made its world premiere at Mill Valley last year, where it won an audience award. The doc has also appeared at fests in Salem and Santa Monica, and at local screenings in San Francisco and Oakland.

Set in the titular West Oakland neighborhood, Soltani and Wimbush’s film profiles individuals subsisting on the fringes through regular scavenging for recyclables. Their base of operation is Alliance Metals, a recycling center which prides itself on helping the homeless by offering them some means of earning an honest living. But as the film soon reveals, the situation isn’t quite so rosy: Alliance Metals has its detractors, some who claim the business is exploitative, using a vulnerable population to keep it in operation while paying them very little, and others, representative of gentrification in the area, who take issue with the consequences of the homeless in the area, such as litter. While this debate figures throughout this somewhat rough-hewn but engaging project, with the fate of Alliance Metals determined by its end, the filmmakers are more focused on several resilient subjects – though they don’t all have happy endings.

Coming to DVD this coming Tuesday, May 17: NO CONTROL

Jessica Solce’s examination of the gun control debate had its world premiere at DOC NYC in 2014. Other screenings have included the Denver Film Society, and the film previously has been released on VOD.

I previously wrote about the doc here.