The 19th annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival takes place this Thursday, April 7 through Sunday, April 10, offering NC’s Research Triangle audiences the chance to sample nearly 60 new and recent feature docs, in addition to retrospective programming, shorts, and panels. As usual, the fest’s programming team has handpicked an impressive assortment of films that have previously debuted at IDFA, Sundance, and elsewhere on the circuit, in addition to selecting several brand new films to have their debuts at the event. The following turns the spotlight on the latter: Continue reading
Category Archives: Documentary
Full Frame 2016 Overview
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
On DVD: PRESCRIPTION THUGS
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, April 5: PRESCRIPTION THUGS
Chris Bell, Josh Alexander and GB Young’s examination of the consequences of overprescribed drugs had its world premiere at Tribeca last year. The doc also screened at Traverse City before its limited release earlier this year.
I previously wrote about the film here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
On DVD: OF MEN AND WAR
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, April 5: OF MEN AND WAR
Laurent Bécue-Renard’s raw exploration of the impact of PTSD on veterans debuted at Cannes in 2014. Screenings followed at IDFA, Göteborg, DocPoint, Documentary Fortnight, ZagrebDox, True/False, Full Frame, Visions du Réel, Documenta Madrid, San Francisco, DOXA, Sydney, AFI Docs, Human Rights Watch, and DOK.Fest Munich, among others.
I previously wrote about the doc upon its theatrical release here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
On DVD: HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLD
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, April 5: HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLD
Jerry Rothwell’s look at the early days of Greenpeace made its bow at Sundance last year, where it picked up the World Cinema Documentary Editing Award. Its fest circuit has also included Nantucket, Hot Docs, True/False, DOXA, San Francisco Green, Sebastopol Doc, Sydney, and Telluride Mountainfilm, among others.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
On TV: CHILDREN OF THE ARCTIC
Coming to PBS’s America ReFramed tomorrow, Tuesday, April 5: CHILDREN OF THE ARCTIC
Nick Brandestini’s coming-of-age portrait of Alaskan teens debuted at Zurich in 2014. Its festival circuit has also included Santa Barbara, Big Sky, Cinequest, Salem, Guam, Anchorage, Available Light, and Oxford, among other events.
In Barrow AK, the northernmost community in the US, four Inupiat and one transplanted Eskimo feel the pull of both traditional Native ways and of modernity as they transition from teenagers to young adults. High school seniors Flora and Josiah make plans to marry and temporarily relocate to Fairbanks to attend university but find themselves drawn back to smalltown Barrow and family ties. Samuel, Josiah’s younger brother, learns traditional hunting and whaling skills from their grandfather, but worries about the latter’s increasing senility. Ace excels in school, but finds himself torn between community expectations and his own desires for self-improvement. Finally, transplant Maaya tries to connect with her Native roots and to remove the stigma of discussing the prevalence of suicide in the community. Brandestini has crafted a work of strong, if reserved, portraiture that reveals how these young people navigate the delicate balance between the different worlds they inhabit, while also facing the impact of climate change on Barrow’s traditional ways.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
On VOD: WHO TOOK JOHNNY?
Coming to VOD tomorrow, Tuesday, April 5: WHO TOOK JOHNNY?
David Beilinson, Suki Hawley, and Michael Galinsky’s investigation of a mother’s decades-long search for her missing son debuted at Slamdance in 2014. The doc also screened at Big Sky, Brooklyn, Maryland, Chicago Underground, and Newport Beach, among other events. FilmBuff now releases the film on VOD platforms.
Noreen Gosch has been searching for her son Johnny since the then twelve-year-old vanished from his Des Moines neighborhood during his paper route in 1982. Despite being the first missing child whose photo was featured on the side of a milk carton, Johnny was never found. Hampered by regulations that necessitated a 72-hour wait period, authorities turned up no clues and instead suspected he ran away, angering Noreen and setting her on a life-long quest to discover what happened. While sensitively exploring the toll of her mission on the still-grieving mother, the filmmakers also carefully detail the prevailing theory on Johnny’s fate – a disturbing conspiracy that suggests he, and other missing children, were the victims of a human trafficking ring catering to well-connected pedophiles. At the same time, a late revelation from Noreen introduces an intriguing ambiguity that colors the entire film, calling to mind other 1980s-era scares around child abduction and abuse – day-care hysteria, Satanic ritual panic – that have nevertheless left a lasting impact on parents of irrational fear and distrust.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Special Screening: MONSIEUR LE PRESIDENT
Coming to NYC’s Stranger Than Fiction series tomorrow, Tuesday, April 5: MONSIEUR LE PRESIDENT
Victoria Campbell’s profile of Haiti post-earthquake made its world premiere at DOC NYC in 2014. It went on to screen at the Martha’s Vineyard and Hot Springs Doc fests.
I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
Volunteering in Haiti in the immediate aftermath of the devastating 2010 earthquake, Victoria Campbell encounters Gaston, a charming voodoo priest who shows leadership during the emergency, and later manages to open a small, much-needed medical clinic with the support of a foreign funder. He becomes a local hero, a symbol of ingenuity in defiance of the failure of conventional relief efforts. Over three years, he also becomes the filmmaker’s close friend – until an unexpected development causes Victoria to re-examine her entire experience in Haiti.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
On VOD: ONLY THE DEAD
Coming to VOD today, Monday, April 4: ONLY THE DEAD
Michael Ware and William Guttentag’s first-hand portrait of war premiered at Sydney last year. Other festival engagements have included Melbourne, New Zealand, Adelaide, Telluride, and IDFA, while its recent HBO broadcast was under the longer title ONLY THE DEAD SEE THE END OF WAR. The doc now comes to iTunes.
I previously wrote about the doc upon its theatrical release here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
On TV & In Theatres: MAPPLETHORPE: LOOK AT THE PICTURES
Coming to HBO tonight, Monday, February 4 and to theatres this Friday, April 8: MAPPLETHORPE: LOOK AT THE PICTURES
Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey’s look back at the impact of the controversial photographer’s work had its world premiere at Sundance earlier this year. The doc went on to screen at Berlin, BFI Flare, and Miami.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
On TV: WELCOME TO LEITH
Coming to Independent Lens tonight, Monday, February 4: WELCOME TO LEITH
Michael Beach Nichols and Christopher K Walker’s exploration of a white supremacist’s plan to takeover a community debuted at Sundance last year. Screenings followed at Nantucket, New Orleans, SXSW, IDFA, Hot Docs, Dallas, Cucalorus, Montclair, Sydney, AFI Docs, New Zealand, Melbourne, Docville, RIDM, and DMZ Docs, among many other events.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
